Monday, October 18, 2010

NaNoWriMo

What's the "Great American Novel?" Gone With the Wind? Uncle Tom's Cabin? Captain Underpants? Maybe it hasn't been written yet.

Here's your chance to fix that!

November is National Novel Writer's Month. Sure, it's early, but here's the deal: you can do all your prep work beforehand so long as you don't write a word of your novel before 12:00 AM on November 1.

Now for 'da rules (shamelessly ripped from the NaNoWriMo website):
What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.
Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.
Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.
When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.
Where: You write wherever you’d like. On your computer, on your iPad, on a typewriter---anywhere is fine, just as long as you’re writing! For a more in-depth NaNoWriMo overview, visit the devilishly handsome "What is NaNoWriMo?"and "How NaNoWriMo Works" pages.

The whole site is written like this. If you become a registered member you get all kinds of prizes, like "bragging rights," and "a sense of personal worth." It's a great way to blow off some of that October steam!

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