This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for so many things in my life. I have a home, my children, food and clothing, and so much more. What is new to my life this year is writing. I have always known that I could write while in school. I knew how to write an essay that would get me a good grade in college. Now that I am finished with that, I have actually found that I love to write. I enjoy it most when no one is telling me what to write about, and what the criteria are for grading that writing is. I have discovered writing for pleasure, and I have discovered NaNoWriMo.
What is NaNoWriMo, you may ask?
National Novel Writing Month = NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo is a way to get writers writing. It is a challenge to write a novel in a month, which means about 50,000 words. In order to do this, there is a daily challenge of 1,667 words per day. It sounds like a lot, but just having a community of writers, and a place to be accountable to can be very inspiring. I began NaNoWriMo at the beginning of the month in order to try, and write as many blog posts as I could. Then I began a novel instead, but when inspiration did not come for that, I began a book that I had been thinking of starting anyways. That book is a Bible devotional for homeschooling, or busy moms. Although I rarely hit the daily word target, it is helpful to update my word count daily, which means that I write some of my book every day.
NaNoWriMo is not just for the grown adult writer, but has a program for youth, and teens as well. Younger writers can choose their daily goals. There is also a NaNoWriMo “camp” during the summer to get the youth writing as much as possible during the off school months. My son is writing right now through NaNoWriMo, and those of you who work with teens or have some of your own, know what a challenge it can be to sometimes get them to write.
On NaNoWriMo there are forums, friends, and more to inspire any writer just to choose to write more. Some authors use this site as a launch pad for books that they wish to publish, whereas others use the platform just to write for fun, or about things that they need to work through in their own lives. No matter what the reason is, it is not too late to join. You could find your passion to write at any point in your life, just like I did.