NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month (aka: NaNoWriMo) and Family Footnote has been celebrating this fact for the past eight days and will continue to celebrate until Nov. 30th. NaNoWriMo is an excuse to stop making excuses and really write. I am talking novels. Famous authors like Rainbow Rowell and Marissa Meyer wrote great works of fiction during NaNoWriMo, and currently thousands of writers from all over are committing time and effort into reaching mega goals in terms of writing a book.

How Do You Do NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo is like the IRONMAN of writing, okay maybe not an IRONMAN. More like a tough half-marathon or triathlon. It is sitting down everyday and writing thousands of words in hopes of coming up with greatness. Tessa and I both have goals to write 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo. Currently we are typing at an amazing pace. I am at 24750 words and Tessa is at 19156 words. Both of us started NaNoWriMo with prose already on paper, but now we are showing some true commitment to our story-lines.

To put words on pages into perspective…A typical Family Footnote blog is between 800-1200 words. A page in a book is usually about 200-300 words. When I write for magazines like Black Hills FACES or Living Here, I am submitting a 2000 word article that takes up a full four pages in a spread. So 50,000 words would be like 25 magazine pages of small text with just a few pictures.

Wish us luck at achieving our 50,000 word goal. I have a feeling we could each surpass it. Our intention with NaNoWriMo is to stay committed to the creative process that is writing and maybe earn a t-shirt. However, I would not turn down a book publishing offer or the chance to see my stuff get picked up by an agent.

Stay tuned! And thanks (as always) for reading Family Footnote.