NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Traditionally, the goal is to start and finish a 50,000-word novel within the month of November. Break it down and that equals about 1,667 words per day. If you can do it, go on with your bad self! I’m so serious! But if that’s a bit much, then tweak it.
I’m all for breaking a rule to make it work for you. I’m already in the middle of a novel, for example, and most definitely do not intend to stop what I’m doing to begin a new project. Instead, I’m making it work for me by completing my 80,000-word novel by the end of November. I’m somewhere around 20,000 words right now, so I have about 10k to knock in before the challenge even begins.
If you’ve already started your novel, feel free to tweak the challenge to meet your needs as well. If you know that there’s no way in hell that you’ll be finished by the end of November, then set a goal to be at least halfway finished. Or maybe you don’t even want to write a book, but want to get back in the groove of writing. In this case, you could create a 30-day journaling challenge. Make it work for you.
While I strongly suggest joining the official NaNoWriMo group for milestone badges and contest access, I’ve also created a community for us writers with soul. It helps to be able to vent, ask for advice, and lend motivation to your own tribe. I created a FB group just for that reason.
As the group’s facilitator-slash-writing coach, any question that you have about your novel will be answered. In case you missed it, by participating in the NaNoWriMo with Soul community, you’re entitled to 30 days of free book coaching!
BONUS! Should you lean all the way in and actually finish your book by the end of November, I’m offering 15% off of any editing service and we have two publishers–one for fiction, another for non-fiction–who are offering similar services.