Glutton for Punishment

I wonder sometimes if I've gone mental. I just joined the NaNoWriMo challenge (National Novel Writing Month). I would hear writer friends talk about this activity, and I was curious enough to check out the website a few months ago. Basically, a person accepts the challenge to write a complete novel in one month. So, this November, I will be holed up in my dining room typing as fast as possible during the wee hours of the night. And weekends. And mornings.

The novel must be at least 50,000 words long to be considered, well, a novel. Let's do the math. That means it will be necessary to log 1,666 words a day. **whistle** I normally do most of my writing on the weekends, but I can see that two days a week won't cut it.

You might think, hmmm... what about the quality of this piece of work? Here's the amazing thing. Some writers have published some pretty good works from engaging in this challenge. Sara Gruen wrote Water for Elephants during NaNoWriMo. That alone is enough to inspire me since I loved that book.

The rules say that you cannot begin writing before November 1, but you can have your plot ideas ready. The website says that you get support from other participants in your area. For the piece de resistence, you get a web badge when you finish. We all love to get a memento that says, "Yes, I did it!" Let's also not forget that you end with A COMPLETED NOVEL. I'm ready.