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I have decided to do something this November that I have been wanting to do for years. I have finally decided to take the plunge and do NaNoWriMo. If you’re not a writer you’re probably thinking I accidentally sat on my keyboard or if you’re English, you probably think that’s a Welsh word. Both are wrong, NaNoWriMo is an abbreviation of National Novel Writing Month. It began in America so is now actually international, but aside from that, the title is pretty self-explanatory. For the month of November, people pledge to write an entire novel (defined as 50,000 words). Most people try to write 2,000 words so that they have a little bit of manoeuvre room.

Whenever I think about what I am really about to attempt, I begin to wonder how the heck I am going to manage it, but I am absolutely determined to do this. I used to write everyday simply because I love it, and although I am still writing non-fiction regularly for this blog and my column, I really miss writing fiction. I just can’t seem to find the motivation for fiction anymore. As NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty writes in No Plot? No Problem!,’the biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It’s the lack of a deadline.’ I don’t think my novel will be amazing, in fact most participators never actually read the novel they wrote. The reason I am doing this challenge is because I need to prove to myself that I can actually write everyday and produce a novel on a deadline, i.e. that I might actually have what it takes to be a writer.

I am not going to this blind-sided. I am making some preparations, I don’t just mean as in planning my novel and working on characters. I am reading Chris Baty’s book which I mentioned, reading lots of articles online and watching the NaNoWriMo youTube videos. I am planning to split my 2,000 daily words into either three or four writing sessions. I did a quick time check yesterday and it should take me about 15-20 minutes to write five hundred words, although this obviously depends on how well I get into the writing flow. Yes writer’s flow an actual thing, no matter how cheesy it sounds. I am hoping that by 9.30am each day I should have at least five hundred words down.

One of the great things about being in university is that I can also be apart of the NaNoWriMo group. I can make friends and get motivation and support. No one wants to be the first one in the group to quit…

I know this is still going to be a huge challenge but this is something I really want to achieve. I keep picturing how I will feel come the 1st December when despite my tiredness I will have written my first novel. I was talking to Paul earlier about what my undertaking this challenge will mean for him, and I realised quite how much I want to do this. If I end up giving up, you can expect one very unhappy post from me. So the less posts you see from me for the next month, the better you know my novel will be going. I’m off to make a visual board for my novel!

Love Katie x

Are any of you thinking of doing Nanowrimo too?

Posted by Katie Bennett-Davies in Inspiration, Social activities, University, Writing Tags: blog, blogging, CFS, challenge, Chris Baty, creativity, fibro, fibromyalgia, fiction, illness, inspiration, M.E., NaNoWriMo, No Plot? No Problem!, novel, November, spoonie, writing