September is not only Pumpkin Spice Season

It’s the beginning of September, and everywhere people are putting down their lemonades and picking up Pumpkin Spice everything and you know what that means:

NaNoWriMo is about 8 weeks away!

What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? Since 1999, it means National Novel Writing Month and it challenges you to write 50,000 words in November.

Yup. It’s a lot. It’s scary and daunting. And exhilarating. It’s doable. It’s free to participate, and there are a ton of resources to support you if you do, such as word count trackers, prompts, community motivation, inspirational speakers, and buddies. 

Do you end up with a finely crafted, publishable work at the end of 30 days? NO. You do not. Let me be clear: you don’t start writing on Nov. 1 and have a publishable book on Nov. 30. BUT you will have generated content you can work with going forward, and that, my writer friends, is priceless.

Do you have to write a novel? NO. NaNoWriMo is geared towards fiction writers, with many resources on story arcs, character development, and worldbuilding, but you can work on whatever you want. I participated in 2019, 2020, and 2021 while working on nonfiction. 

The thing about NaNoWriMo is that it is a challenge: it is hard but worth it.

So: are you up for a challenge?

I’m inviting you to set a goal.

What would be FUN and a CHALLENGE for you? Declare your intention, and I’ll support you! I’ll provide very specific tips and lots of encouragement over the coming weeks.