It's been six years since I participated in NaNoWriMo, and while I am not joining the multitudes of writers who are officially hoping to reach 50,000 words this month, I do use NaNoWriMo as motivation for my own writing routine. For those not familiar with the National Novel Writing Month, here is their mission statement: National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.
I believe every serious writer should participate in NaNoWriMo at least once in her career. It gives a scribe an idea of the level of discipline it takes to be a career author. It was in 2011 that I first began to write according to a set schedule; the first time I realized what it would take to be a published author. NaNoWriMo is a wonderful tool for writers.
Since I'm working on a short story - another Lindstrom Wintertime Tale - I'm hoping to complete a solid first draft by the end of the month. However, writing 3500 words is a lot easier than 50,000...in a month!
Good luck to all the NaNoWriMo paricipants!
