Tis The Season

NaNoWriMo season, that is. The November madness will soon be upon us. What is it, you ask? Sheesh, have you been hiding in a coal mine? Okay, if you're not a novelist (I sort of am), you probably don't give a big whoop anyway.

NaNoWriMo happens during November--all month long, so forget about going to the relatives for Thanksgiving. If you're participating, you just won't have time for that. Oh, yeah, that's only if you're American. The rest of the world has November open for anything they want to do.
The concept is to write 50,000 words of a novel in one month. For some, this is entire novel. For real novelists, that's about half a novel. Since I primarily write for the kiddies, 50K or less is fine.

On the Nano website, you can delve into the forums which offer help, plot ideas, challenges, tricks for getting word count, suggestions for the proper herbs to keep you going, and general encouragement. You can join a specific group (there's a group for just about any flavor you are) and/or a regional group (your city, state, province, canton, or whatever). Within regions, Nanoers can also meet in the flesh for write-ins, gripe sessions, pizza, and shoulder-crying.

Interesting in hitting your inner editor over the head with a sledgehammer and stuffing them into a closet for a month? Go check it out. Maybe it's just the type of madness that will help you get that novel out of your head and onto your computer hard drive.

National Novel Writing Month

Oh, yeah, they also support literacy campaigns for kids with your donations.