Looking for a challenge next month? There's always Movember coming up soon for those who fancy experimenting with their facial hair. But for those who, for whatever reason, may have a problem growing a truly magnificent moustache (pretty much everyone then) or are simply facing more of a creative and mentally stimulating challenge you might consider Nanowrimo.
If you love to write, or are simply looking for an excuse to practice your skills and do something productive, National Novel Writing Month or Nanowrimo as it has come to be known, is always a fun event to take part in. The premise is simple – before the month of November is up you need to write a 50,000 word novel. The subject and topic of the book is completely up to you. If you've ever felt you had a story inside you wanted to come out, it's an excellent time to get involved in writing.
Though it's called National Novel Writing Month and began in America, it has since expanded across the world with writers from all over participating and adding to their creations. Some do it for charity, but many others simply do it for the challenge or desire to achieve something. How you get your 50,000 words is entirely up to you. You might spread it out, writing your quota every day or you may find you have to make time up on your days off due to your busy schedule.
To help aspiring writers, Nanowrimo runs numerous seminars, workshops and guides online. They do this throughout the year, but especially during the challenge month to help motivate participants to complete their word count. Additionally, as a worldwide thing, support groups of writers spring up all around the world, often meeting together in coffee shops and other places in the community to help motivate and help one another. However, if you don't want to get involved with the larger community that's entirely fine too – the checking system for word counts is completely online and automated and, if you're shy about anyone knowing what you've done, nobody need ever know – you can sign up anonymously.
Everyone who completes their word count prior to the 1st of December is considered to be a winner and entitled to download a certificate bearing the name of their novel provided by the Nanowrimo organisers. Something to show the world of your achievement. Remember that it's all about writing "A" novel, not "The" novel, and quality, thankfully, isn't a concern (at least at this point).
Of course when quality is a concern you'll need to get some training. If, after participating in Nanowrimo, you find yourself bitten by the writing bug, you might want to explore the possibilities of finding work where your responsibility is to write, or perhaps even try to write a proper quality novel to sell. Whether you want to write for children, the news or just improve your regular standard of writing, there is an ADL course to help you.
Interested participants for Nanowrimo have until the 31st of October to sign up.
