I’ve decided…. I’m going to go for it this November. I’m going to do NaNoWriMo. I signed up last week, after being inspired by some of my ROW80 peeps, and I committed to it today by telling my daughter, her friend, and one of my best friends from college and her partner. It was at that point that I realized that not everyone knows what NaNoWriMo, even spelled out: National Novel Writing Month, is.

Basically, it’s a month of craziness: you commit to writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. If you write 50, 000 words, you “win,” even if your novel isn’t complete at that length.

That sounds like a lot, yet there are plenty of professional, full-time writers who regularly produce at this level or more. I did it once before, in 2009. And yes, I “won.” I never did finish that book, but I still plan to.

The rules of NaNoWriMo require that you start a new book in November – picking up one that’s already started doesn’t count, although a lot of people do just that. I’m doing NaNo because other than “Time’s Holiday,” I haven’t written any new material since I did NaNoWriMo. I need that extra kick in the seat.

I don’t know if I’ll publish the book I’m writing for NaNo – I want to get back into writing for fun, and it’s a big departure from what I usually write, so who knows how it’ll turn out. FUN is where it’s at this month. It’ll definitely be harder to “win” this time around, as I have a regular blog and other writing activities to do, including my revision on Hangar 18, that I don’t want to put off further.

Fortunately, we can do ROW80 and NaNoWriMo at the same time. So here’s my ROW80 progress for this past week:

• Finish Home for the Holidays print book, and if proof received, correct if needed; otherwise OK it and make available for sale – the proof had some minor issues, so I reworked those, uploaded the corrections, and ordered another proof. Done!
• Physical activity 5x this week – No. I had a bit of a cold earlier this week, and although it was a mild one (thank goodness!), I took it easy on the physical stuff this week. I’m better now, so I’m hoping to jump back in this week!
• Hangar 18 – review and markup Chapters 4-6 – Done!
• Get it Together exercises 13 & 14 – No
• I got some more outlining done on my NaNoWriMo project.

If you’re participating in ROW80, how are you doing so far? Are you doing NaNoWriMo? If so, look me up and let’s be writing buddies! And either way, how are you doing with whatever goals you may have made?

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.