NaNoWriMo

Ah, yes, that time of year has arrived: National Novel Writing Month, also called NaNoWriMo.  It's that time of months in which nerds, such as myself, gather from all corners of the globe to celebrate and practice one thing: the novel.  It is an event in which writers from all walks of life are challenged to tackle the great feat of writing 50,000 words in thirty days.  When you think about it: no, that's not actually a novel (it's a novella).  It's approximately 175 pages.  (To add a comparison, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone" is about 80,000 words.)  It's about quantity, not quality.  Odds are that the spawn of thirty days and 50,000 words will be crap, and that's okay.  It's expected, and even encouraged.  So why do we do it?  Why would this amount of stress (added onto the typical stress of college this year, nonetheless) be permitted?  Because it's simply fun.  I've always enjoyed it, despite the fact that I fail most years due to hatred of the plot after a while.

I started NaNo for the first time in 2005 when I was fourteen.  I was a member of the Harry Potter message board, DarkMark.com, and someone posted about it.  I was quite intrigued and vowed to try.  It resulted in my first real plot for a novel that wasn't fanfiction -- quite a feat, if you ask me.  The cover it produced was absolutely horrible, this I freely admit.  But still.  I tried.  Failed, but hey.  I tried.  I failed nearly every other time afterwards.  The one time I won wasn't official, but I decided to count it since I didn't do anything that November anyway.  I had just written the 50,000+ words in another month.  So there.

So why do I keep trying when I am probably destined to fail?  Especially now with college going full force.  It's just . . . fun.  The plotting and meeting others as crazy as me is a huge part of the excitement.  Added on to the fact that I'll finally meet others who are doing it, as there are some people on the Truman campus.  I just try and see what happens.  I'm not going all out with the promoting, graphic designing, or anything like that for this novel.  It's basically under wraps, and it'll stay that way.  But I still intend to vent on this trusty blog.  So there.  For your "amusement," here is what my writing space currently looks like.