It’s week 2 of our NaNoWriMo boot camp and we’re just four days away from the kickoff of the frenzy of writing that is NaNo. So today we’re going to talk about what you should be doing, what you can expect from the month and whether this whole kerfuffle is worth it.

NaNoWriMo for anyone who missed last week is National Novel Writing Month and it’s facilitated by this website and the non-profit that supports it.

When did you first hear of NaNo? Have you ever done it?

The first step is to register, it’s free. The second step is to create the project. You’ll need a name (it’s a working title) and a word count goal. The site recommends 50,000 words. That’s how you “win.”

Why do it? Commit to a daily grind - write every day is advice frequently given by very prolific writers. Let’s unpack “Write Every Day” – what are the benefits? Certainly speed. When I was blogging everyday I could draft a 500 word blog in 15 minutes. 

Another reason for NaNo – find writers in your area or online (in your genre?) to connect with and share the experience. This is an online challenge but local write-ins are organized, too. Columbia WriMos have a Discord Server and schedule meet-ups around town. Here’s the Discord link but not it’ll expire in 7 days so if you click it and it doesn’t work, it’s old. You’ll want to join ColaWriMos on the NaNo website and the lead will send you an active Discord link.

They’re also using Facebook, so search ColaWriMos there and you should be able to find the full events listing. Write-ins are fun if for no other reason than to not write alone. I usually end up saying “hi” and then putting my earphones in because for real people use it as a chance to talk about the book they’re supposed to be writing.

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