NaNoWriMo -- Wicked Trick or Awesome Treat?

Fifty thousand words in thirty days. Writers all over the world are preparing to step up to the challenge that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Are you one of them?

Last year was my first time, and I fell in love. It's crazy and exciting. It can also be intimidating, so my approach is to do what I can. If I win the challenge, great. If not, well, there's no down side for me.

I love the whole togetherness of it all. Thousands of us burning up our keyboards with the same goal, pushing and encouraging each other.

If you haven't seen these yet, here are some great links for getting prepped:

• How to grab them on page one by James Scott Bell
• NaNoWriMo: quick preparation tips and resources from Write it Sideways
• NaNoWriMo Boot Camp: Goals and Obstacles by Nathan Bransford

I'm a planner by nature, so I've plotted and written a loose outline. My index cards are filled out, stacked, and ready to go.

Are you in? If you want to buddy me, I'm at Julie Musil. I hope to see you there, and good luck in November!

Clean it up!

Ahhhhh...

I love a freshly scrubbed home, a sparkling car, and an empty hamper. Unfortunately, my “Men Who Stare at Goats” look will not erase the work. Believe me, I’ve tried. My only solution? To steal a line from Nike, I “Just do it!”

It’s the same with a first draft. We have permission to write an awful first draft, one that deserves to be scraped from the bottom of our shoe. We can clean it up in revision, and feel proud of our smooth and shiny manuscript.

Once our polished beauties are ready to leave their hard-drive home and test the real world, we’d be wise to avoid errors that make us look silly. Jenny Bent blogged about rookie mistakes here.

Do you have trouble with organization? On Write it Sideways, Suzannah posted “6 Organization Tips for Disorganized Writers.”

How do you feel about first drafts and revision? Do you have a love/hate relationship? Love/love? Like/like?

And I’m curious, how long does your hamper stay empty? (btw, mine is bottomless, like Mary Poppins’ bag)