It is a little-known but oft-surmised fact on the Compendium that I am something of a writer. The drivel that I type around here is just one tributary leading to an incredible river of written output that, thanks to the immortality of electronic digitization, will surely outlive me and probably the whole planet. It is therefore with cosmic relief that most of my writing is more interesting than may be apparent around here. In my finer moments, I write essays, letters, and fiction.
Fiction is what brings me here tonight. The holy month of
NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is fast drawing upon us, and the time has come for all able-handed purveyors of imaginative fancy to consider the sole imperative of NaNoWriMo:
Write a book.In the month of November, NaNoWriMo tasks budding novelists to compose a work of not less than 50,000 words—roughly 90 pages in Microsoft Word with typical fonts and margins—in the 30 days or less before that month comes to a close.
The rationale is simple: We all have a story bouncing around in our heads, but for one reason or another most of us never get around to writing it. NaNoWriMo gives us an excuse to unambiguously dedicate time out of our days toward bringing this story into being. Especially important is to allow ourselves to toss quality out the window and focus exclusively on quantity. By devoting all ambition toward reaching the 50,000 word finish line, we can at least be sure of completing November with a new and substantial piece of writing to our name. And if this story turns out horrible? That’s what the other 11 months in the year are for.
You know it well, from firsthand experience, each one of you: You have begun to write something, getting only a few pages into it before becoming dissatisfied and going back to start over, then finally losing interest altogether. Only a few of us have actually finished a story of especial length. None of us have finished every single piece of written work we ever seriously began, excepting those of you who have never begun a serious piece of work at all.
The number of participants in NaNoWriMo has burgeoned since the contest’s inception several years ago, and now a great many people look forward to November as their opportunity to seriously pursue the call of the imagination. Here is your chance to bring your own story to life.
I will be participating, of course. It will be my fourth year. NaNoWriMo is beneficial for me because I usually focus so heavily on quality in my fiction that writing for quantity is an important release. It gives me a chance to work on other, less important fiction, and to get further along with it more quickly. As it was said in
Finding Forrester, “Just write.”
I invite our Compendium’s entire company to do just that. Work together, or on your own. Work in secrecy, or report daily. The choice is yours, and the opportunity is near.
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