Ready, Set, Go! NaNoWriMo Tips

In less than four short days, National Novel Writing Month will be upon us. In thirty-days, writers around the world will be attempting to write 50,000 words all for the glory of saying "I did it!". If you are one of the crazed that will be joining in this event, here are some tips to help you make the most of this endeavor:

• Cordon off your work area.
  • If need be, stop off at your local animal shelter, offer to house a dog, the meaner the better (or perhaps the more loyal to it's caretaker) for the month and set up a kennel just at the door/opening to your work area to keep visitors at bay.
  • Post Do No Disturb signs liberally about your work area.
  • Offer to water potted cacti for the local nursery for the month on the condition you can take the cacti with you, then set it about your work area. This is something most anyone, even those with the blackest of thumbs can do, seeing that much like camels, cacti don't require a whole lot of watering.
• Stock up on beverages, protein powered snacks, and yes, chocolate.
• Change your answering machine/voice mail outgoing message. Remember to issue a threat to anyone attempting to contact you if it has nothing to do with getting your novel done.
• Flatly turn down all offers for Thanksgiving unless they are willing to feed you without disturbing you, your headphones, and whichever medium you are electing to use to write your novel.
  • A word to the wise, do not offer to host Thanksgiving dinner at your house. Only an insane person (yours truly) would even contemplate such a ridiculous thing.
  • On that note, also don't be tempted to hit the stores, shopping centers, malls or any other commercial wasteland of consumerism. Yes, there are incredible Black Friday deals, but you were going to run over to that POD (publish on demand) site online and have your novel printed and bound as a gift for each and every one of holiday "shop for" list, weren't you?
• If you are responsible for the care and feeding of children, it's perfectly acceptable to stock up on frozen and instant-meal-in-a-box dinners, they are more nutritious than the stuff that our mother's fed us and easy enough for even a five-year-old to make. Heck, that dog you brought home from the pound? Put 'em to work! And while you're stocking up, don't forget to get some for you too.
• Collect, buy, borrow, steal the following books:
  • Unabridged dictionary
  • Rand McNally Global Color Maps
  • 2008, 2009, 2010 Writer's Market Editions (preferably the deluxe edition)
  • Thesaurus
  • And/or several Encyclopedia Britannica volumes
• Put the aforementioned books under your desk and use them as a footrest. You won't be needing this, you are writing, not researching, not editing, not proofing - just writing!
• For those of you with a needy spouse/partner/mate, for $14.50 you can alleviate that concern. Just follow the link here [mature, open-minded, humor-filled folks only, please]
• Be sure to get plenty of exercise as that keeps the blood circulating in your cranium and fingers. Remember that dog? Grab up a rubber ball and toss it around. That'll do it. Now get back to writing!

Cheers and the best of luck! Let us know how your venture is going by leaving a comment. Care to pick up a few supporters along the way? Leave your NaNoWriMo screenname with your post and let the real fun begin.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

In less than a week thousands will be sitting down to write a novel. Challenged by Chris Baty, the wonderbrain behind this mad adventure, writers of all types and around the world are spirited along to write fifty-thousand --that's right, 50,000-- words in thirty days. And if you've been so inspired to do this that you actually churn out a book (which are typically another 40-50K more words depending on your genre), literary agent Colleen Lindsay doesn't want you trying to pitch it to her. But don't let her stop you from pitching it to others. Just be sure it's worthy of the agent's time and not just sent out to a pool of agents on December first. Not cool.

Last year, Chico Writers Group hosted a number of write-ins as several took the challenge. This year, however, we won't be hosting write-ins. We will most likely continue holding our write-ins at the library on Wednesdays between 9:30 and 11:30 am, except we might be moving to the inside portion at the back of the reference area where it might be a tad warmer (see diagram below). If you plan on coming and haven't been before, you might want to stop off at the comment section and give us a holler so we know to be looking for you -- and that you'll be looking for us. If you have a laptop you'll be using and require power during the two hours, we suggest you bring a suitable extension cord as the number of open and available outlets is limited. There are some nearby our location, but for some, it might be a stretch.

Click on the picture above to enlarge.

If write-ins are your thing, one of our members will be working with the Chico NaNo liaison, Lynn, and hosting write-ins at her offices on Rio Lindo Avenue after 5:00 p.m. Want more information? Go to NaNoWriMo.org and register. Once you're done, edit your profile and select Chico, California as your region and be sure to sign up to allow the liaison to send messages to you. Still need more or can't figure that out? Hit that comment box and let us know. Just be sure to use a valid email address so someone can respond.