I don’t know why I’m reporting on this, because I never participate, but I love the concept of this event, and I find it fun to follow along with friends who are participating.

NaNoWriMo (or “NaNo” for short) is National Novel Writing Month. Writers all over the country sign up to commit themselves to writing 50,000 words in one month — Nov. 1-30 — and encourage each  other along. Those who complete their 50,000 get a NaNo writer’s badge for their blogs, bragging rights for an entire year, plus … well, maybe the beginnings of a beautiful new story. (I read on Nathan Bransford’s blog that the book Water for Elephants was a NaNoWriMo effort. Pretty cool. …)

I’d love to do this — writing with such abandon for 30 days seems like bliss to me — but … well, I have a job. And I don’t have enough hours in four weekends to dash off 50,000 words. Plus I do love my Novembers. I can’t quite imagine giving up my November weekends. (Who picked that month, anyway? Someone should have picked boring January!) But anyway, maybe someday, someday, someday …

Fellow writer friends — are you participating this year?

My critique partner sent me this link to Galley Cat with 30 great quick-to-read tips: Galley Cat’s NaNoWriMo Tips

Also, Nathan Bransford has a great NaNo boot camp on his blog: Nathan Bransford’s NaNoWriMo Boot Camp