NanoWrimo (short for National Novel Writing Month) is one of the most exciting events I look forward to every year. Like many writer-wannabe, this annual writing event seems to be the perfect mark for me to push myself forward in my story writing. Yet, for the past few years, I have yet to embark on this journey together with other writer-wannabes in the world. I blamed it on my lack of time, busy schedule, broken down computer, my own writing pact group commitment, my writing workload and everything else I could think of. But this year, I’m not going to give myself excuses anymore.

Despite my hectic schedule next month (as I take on the role of Media Communications Director for Run For The Nation 2010, volunteered to be the webmaster/writer of blogsite Parents Support Group With Children of Special Needs and guestpost in other design blogs), I have decided to commit an hour daily to writing my very new novel title: The Sleepwalker. Or perhaps, Orang Cina Bukan Cina. I haven’t quite make up my mind.

Meanwhile, I want to invite all you writer-wannabes to join me in this writing adventure. Here’s a short introduction on NanoWrimo (extracted from their website).

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap.

And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down. As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2008, we had over 119,000 participants. More than 21,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

Drop me a comment if you are taking part as well so that we can encourage one another in our writing adventure. I’ve been told that I am a reliable working buddy; always pushing my partners to meet deadlines and stay on the track. So ya, happy writing, novelists!

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Latest update (1 December 2009): 16,543 words for the entire month of November! How many words did you write?

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