I’m a bit late for this, but my curiosity is piqued. What is this all about, you ask? Well, we’re going to find out together.
The Facebook group, Ninja Writers, is where I first heard tell of NaNoWriMo, as people have started calling it. In one post, a Ninja Writers’ member exclaimed that he was on his 100th page of his novel. That’s great! I thought. However, underneath that, he wrote, “NaNoWriMo is going well for me!” I thought to myself, What the hell is NaNoWriMo?
So I turned to my friend Google, and I said, “NaNoWriMo?” And Google, being the ultimate at knowing exactly what you want from single word questions, pointed me to https://nanowrimo.org, the National Novel Writing Month website.
I clicked around the site, and I determined a few things from what I read. First, I am very late. You’re allowed to sign up in September. Second, you start posting updates and all that from Nov 1st through the 30th. Third, the novel must have a minimum of fifty thousand words by the end of the month. Fourth, major authors give pep talks and support. Finally, it’s a community where writers meet.
Let’s get started:
After clicking “Get Started,” I am taken to a basic form: name, email, password, age verification, and reCAPTCHA; you know, the basics.
After making certain that I’m not a robot by clicking the checkbox, I hit sign up.
The next page says “Thank you!” and I must wait on an email to complete the sign-up process. Fortunately, the wait is only 0.5 seconds long. The email has a link that takes me to a sign in page.
My first pop-up from NaNoWriMo!
The first item on the agenda is selecting a region. Since my county is not on the list, I choose the next one over.
“Committed to writing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November?” NaNoWriMo asks.
“I’ll do my damnedest,” I say.
“Follow these easy steps to get started,” it says:
- Fill out your profile. (Will do)
- Create your novel starting in September. (Oops)
- Select your region. (I did that on the last screen)
- Earn badges. (Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!)
- Get inspired. (Easier said than done. Am I WRITE? Ha, see what I did there?)
- Start Writing. (Erm, Somehow I think this is akin to step 2.)
- Claim your win. (Now we’re talking! What do we win?)
Ok, so step one: filling out the profile. At the very top of the page, it has a field for the name of your novel, and a spot for a picture. I also note that if you donate to the site, you can get a “halo.” In all, there are five tabs to fill out. I seem to be on the “Author Info” tab, as the fields below ask for the basic profile stuff, location, b-day, hobbies, fav music, website, sponsorship, occupation, fav books or authors, and a bio.
I accidentally add The Unfettered Child as this year’s November novel. I could delete it, but nah.
The other tabs are “Novels,” “Badges,” “Writing Buddies,” “Buddy Of,” “Goal Trackers,” and “Stats.” Over the next few days, I will play with these.
The closest group to me is in Stephenville, so I introduce myself on their forum. They apparently meet quite often at the local Starbucks to . . . write, I guess. Drink coffee and write. I love it.
Overall, the experience is good. How effective it is still depends heavily on how involved you are. Check back and I will write about the “Inspiration” section. From what I see, there are pep talks from successful authors.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!