Too busy to get a life? Feels like you're living three already?

I know, you're just like me. 'November's coming', you say. 'I have Christmas presents/cards to organise, the garden really should get it's (overdue) last tidy up before spring, and the way the nights are drawing in (if you are north of the tropic of Cancer) makes me want to hibernate. Plus there are all the things that should have been on my 'To Do' list for years, if I was organised enough to have a 'To Do' list. In short, I have absolutely no spare time.'

Relax! I have exactly the project you didn't want to use up all remaining seconds of 'no free time' that you have, as well as eating into your sleeping, eating, working, living time as well.

'What is it?', I hear you cry, desperate to find out more.

Monty Python's Flying Cir-CUS

NaNoWriMo

OK, I've suckered you in with my mildly witty ramblings. Here's the real deal. NaNoWriMo is the National² Novel³ Writing⁴ Month⁵. You write a novel. In a month.

1. You must start on 1st November and finish by 30th November
2. To become a 'winner' you must reach a word count of at least 50,000
3. No revisiting of work or works in progress - start from scratch
4. Forget about quality; in NaNoWriMo it's quantity that counts.

• You can give your profession as 'novelist' on forms, passport etc. from 1st December onwards
• You have an amazing conversation stopper at parties
• You won't keep obsessing over the first few sentences of chapter 1 because you have that word limit hanging over you [This quality/quantity point is really the key to NaNoWriMo. Without saying 'never mind the crud, just get on with it' and having a deadline to get to, many if not all would simply procrastinate and never get round to writing their novel]
• You have amazing opportunities to share the pain/get ideas/socialise with others who are equally foolish, through the Forums on the NaNoWriMo website and from there to local meetups (usually in licenced premises!).

And that's it. It's a great idea. It can even work (so I've heard)⁶. Myself, I took part in the 4th annual NaNoWriMo in November 2002 and reached around 4,200 words. Still, at least I have a target to beat this year.

To reassure the doubters, you can actually make preparations in October - e.g. prepare plot ideas, characters, etc. Just don't write anything like dialogue or description⁷ that you're actually going to use in your novel⁸

I have a sneaking suspicion that despite a complete failure to turn up 'nanowrimo' in a search of h2g2 - edited entries, recommended entries, entries and conversations - that there must be some current or former WriMos lurking around. Post here and we have more ways to share the pain!

This is a brief introduction to NaNoWriMo, please visit the NaNoWriMo website to find out more.