It is September, and that means I am gearing up to do NaNoWriMo again this year in November! 2019 was my first year participating, though I had heard grumblings about it for years.
For those of you who are not aware, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is an event that has taken place every November since 1999. The goal of the event is to write 50,000 words in the month of November for a new novel. It is a lot of work, I will not lie, but the pride and happiness I felt finishing was worth it. This kick started my writing in a big way after a period of feeling burned out and bored.
The first draft I created has become a huge project for me, and I am thankful I gave the event a chance even though I was terrified to try it. One of the best parts of NaNoWriMo for me was tracking my word count on their website and doing their virtual write ins on You Tube where they will give writing prompts that can help get the creative juices flowing. Popular authors create pep talks and give writing ideas and exercises. There is also a large community of forums, as well as regional groups you can join to connect with other writers. Sign up and announce a new project today at https://nanowrimo.org/
For those writers in your life who are under 18, there is also a special program at https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/