“What I write, bad as it is, may provide some hurt or sad soul a few moments of distraction from something worse. That’s enough for me, or it isn’t enough, but it serves some purpose, and so it is with all of life.” ~ Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

National Novel Writing Month

I have decided to participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. According to the site, “Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175-page) novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30. Specifically, participants must do the following:

Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).
Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.
Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.

NaNoWriMo began in 1999 with 21 participants. By the end of November 2011, 36,843 writers had written 50,000 or more words out of an original 256,618 participants.

This non-profit enterprise is fueled by donations to The Office of Letters and Light, which runs the event. Family and friends of NaNoWriMo participants can show their support by sponsoring writers. Here is the link to my fundraising page. As this is my first year, I doubt that I’ll get many sponsors, but I thought that I’d put up a page anyway.

I have no idea how this is going to go. Frankly, I’m very, very scared and anxious. By signing up for this, I’m making a commitment, something I’m not terribly good about doing when it comes to my writing. Any words of encouragement that you can send my way will be appreciated. Also, because this is my first year, I have no idea as to how all of this will affect this blog. I guess it’s all going to be a matter of wait and see.

Wish me luck.

One thought on ““What I write, bad as it is, may provide some hurt or sad soul a few moments of distraction from something worse. That’s enough for me, or it isn’t enough, but it serves some purpose, and so it is with all of life.” ~ Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet”