NaNoWriMo: A Marathon of Words

My husband says that it has caused many divorces.  My children complain because supper is late getting on the table.  And you, my readers, might soon join in the complaining.  The reason is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, started fourteen years ago by San Franciscan, Chris Baty.  I signed up for the fourth time this year.  My task is to write a novel of 50,000 words within one month.  That means I have to write 1667 words per day.  The focus of the writing is on quantity rather than quality.  It's like a marathon of words.

While most people write a novel, I chose to write non-fiction.  As long as I meet the 50,000 requirement, I'm good to go.  The first year I signed up, I wrote a book about my husband's Oma called On Prussian Plains. The second year I wrote a book about my great-grandma, Daisy Blay, called I'm Just a Home Child.  The third year, I penned the story of my Dad's distant cousin, Richard Tufts, who lost his whole family in The Halifax Explosion.  This year's title is The Big Trek, based on the biggest exodus of people in modern European history, from East Prussia to Germany proper.

I look forward to writing alongside some of my fellow writers including Karen.  I look forward to hearing the tap-tap of the laptop keys, the sipping of hot chocolate, the munching on popcorn, along with almost 350,000 other writers in the world.

If I'm lucky, my "novel" will be published.  Such was the case with Water for Elephants, a NaNoWriMo book made into a movie on the big screen in 2011.  In fact, 250 Nano books have been chosen for publication.  So, happy writing Nano friends!


Note:  For more information, visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10415760/NaNoWriMo-how-to-write-a-novel-in-a-month.html.

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