NaNoWriMo 2023: NaNoWriMo Harder

So most of y’all know ‘bout National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) cos you’ve either done it yourself or listened to me drone on about it year after year. But in the unlikely case you haven’t heard of it, I wrote about it last year:

And it’s apt to share last year's post since the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2022, Teresa’s Backbone, is still going. [Insert imaginary picture of the pink bunny here.] You’ve probably heard of that, too. But, again, in the extremely unlikely case you have not, you can check it out here:

So, guess what I'm doing for NaNoWriMo 2023?

Like last year, though, I wanna set some personal guidelines, some parameters by which to operate. Fifty k+ in thirty days is Herculean but totally do-able if you have a strat that works. So, imma lay out in a similar fash to last year my personal hopes and plan for this year. It shall commence … now!

The Official Stuff

1. Write a novel of 50,000 words or longer in 30 days.
2. Start as early as November 1st 12:00 AM (in your timezone) and end no later than November 30th 11:59:59 PM.

That’s it. Those are the only rules.

My Personal 2023 Guidelines

• No skipping days. In the past it’s been a personal custom of mine to skip the second day. I didn’t do that last year, and I don’t wanna do it this year.

• Make every effort to finish the first draft. This book turned from a one month project into a one year project that forms the spine of about thirty books and a whole lot of other material. So while it may well continue on past November 30th, I want to make every effort to bring at least the main storyline1 to a close.

• Publish the best chapter or two each week by email; post the rest on the website.

• Last year, I did a weekly summary of the NaNoWriMo event itself. This year, I think I’ll do a mid-month check-in, and a retrospective in December.

• No voluntary travel. I have had folks die in November during a couple of NaNoWriMo events, but I have also taken vacations and traveled for Thanksgiving. None of that. Funerals and other necessary travel only.

• Donate to NaNoWriMo. Cos it’s a good cause. You can, too, right here: https://store.nanowrimo.org/collections/donate.

• I will track my word count if I feel like it, but I don’t know that it will be all that useful. I have a list of what needs to be written, so that’s my goal. It’s well over fifty thousand words worth of stuff—meaning, if I am successful, I’ll also ‘win’ NaNoWriMo.

Okay, that’s all mah babes. Hit me up with quesh oder commies.

Xoxo,

T

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