Ready, Set…Write: National Novel Writing Month

By Eric Rand
Frazier Park

National Novel Writing Month is November. During the 30 days of November, you can write a short novel.
The way to win is to put 50,000 words on the page in a more or less coherent form.That’s long enough to count as a novel, but short enough that it’s doable even for people who have regular day jobs and other responsibilities. It works out to about 1,667 words per day on average—a solid bit of work, but still something that can be accomplished.

We plan to have weekly write-ins at the library throughout the month, on November 7, 14 and 21.
Check the website for National Novel Writing Month (http://nanowrimo.org/), which also has a FAQ.

I’ve completed NaNoWriMo in 2010, 2011, and 2013; I’m looking forward to a successful 2014. Here’s an excerpt I wrote in 2011:

Tim doesn’t have an office, which is a bit of an inconvenience when I want to go pick something up from him because I have to enter his apartment. It’s not that it’s some kind of hoarding nightmare full of boxes and garbage—there’s nothing particularly unusual or unkempt about it, save the mess on the kitchen table of whatever he happens to be soldering together—but that it’s quite thoroughly the domain of a creature that is only technically a cat because none of the other species will admit to having it as a member. This creature has sworn vengeance on all things living, and makes its displeasure known to anyone who dares set foot in its domain. Tim addresses it as ‘Blackie.’

This is part of the October 31, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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