The writing life.

So there’s this thing called National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as it’s known to the hip writing crowd) that the blogosphere is all excited about this month. It is, in essence, a personal challenge that one takes on to write a complete novel (of at least 50,000) in 30 days. Obviously, the focus is on numbers, not good writing. In fact, the NaNoWriMo website says, “Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality.” Eek! I can’t imagine writing a novel without constantly editing, thinking, tweaking.

But, for all of us would-be novelists, the idea is a seductive one. Write a whole book in only one month! Over 59,000 folks took on the challenge last year, and an astonishing 10,000 people finished successfully. Which leaves me to wonder what percentage of the 10,000 books that came out of this test are total garbage.

I thought about doing NaNoWriMo, but ultimately decided to pass. I actually enjoy agonizing over every word, taking the time to fully develop characters, picking out the one phrase that perfectly describes what is happening. To all of those writing their full novel this month, I say “Good Luck!” I admire your sense of challenge. You are brave. For those who make it to the end of November with a full novel, I even envy your accomplishment.

But, I’ll be doing what I do…writing a page a day, whittling away slowly at my Great American Novel.

info: www.nanowrimo.org