Laura Raquel

So a lot of you have probably heard about National Novel Writing Month. If not, you should definitely check out this link. Basically you write a novel in 30 days. The whole point is to get 50,000 words written and at the end of November you’ll have “won” Nanowrimo. And even though that sounds like a huge number it’s only a measly 1,667 words a day! Anyone can do that!

I love it! I actually did it in 2005, 2006, and 2007 and won each year. (AKA, I have over 150,000 words in 3 random novels that would need heavy amounts of editing to actually be worth reading.)

But that’s not the point of nanowrimo. The point is to get words down on paper. To get the story out of your system. To jump over that terrifying hurdle of “what can I possibly be thinking – there’s no way I can get this down, I’ll mess it up!” It’s about quantity versus quality. Because, let’s face it folks, you’ve got 1 month to write a novel and then 11 other months to edit and revise it.

So, I’ve always been the kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-let’s-write-about-whatever-today nanowrimo kinda girl. Meaning I’ve never had a plot or any foggy idea what my novel was about. This year I prepared a little. I seriously thought about what I was going to write about beforehand. I didn’t really make any leeway with my thoughts, but I had a vague idea of what I wanted to write about before I started typing. And that’s more than can be said for previous years.

Also, if you’re doing nanowrimo – feel free to add me! I’m under LauraRaquel! I’d love to watch your progress as we embark on this adventure of literary abandon.

So here’s to the start of November and all the other participants writing a novel! You’ll probably be hearing some nanowrimo rants on this blog as well during the month.