As many fiction writers know, November is known as National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for those in the industry. It’s a fun little word and I’ve finally mastered the pronunciation. Until this year I never really paid much attention but because my next project is a more traditional book, rather than poetry, I have been following along. I have to give credit where it’s due. I have been following Derek Murphy on YouTube for the past six months or so. It’s there where Derek creates short videos offering sound advice on writing – anything from cover design, to properly utilizing keywords on Amazon. And although with my web and graphic design background I knew a lot in the way of online content marketing, Derek’s videos have given me new light on not only book promotion but self-promotion.
Recently the subject of NaNoWriMo has filled his feed and I’ve been following along as he and several others rented a castle for the setting of their writing retreat. In the latest post to his website CreativINDIE, he shared several pics of the surroundings as well as a brief background of each guest enjoying their Austrian NanoCastle retreat.
What is NaNoWriMo?
To summarize it best I can, NaNoWriMo is an online writing project held annually during the month of November. The goal is to complete a 50,000-word manuscript or have 50,000 words towards the completion of a longer manuscript between November 1 and November 30. There are no official prizes but anyone who completes the 50,000 words is declared a winner. According to the NaNoWriMo website, approximately 600 novels have been published as a result of the month-long project, including Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.
Although all genres are accepted, I did not participate officially in the 2019 NaNoWriMo project as the books I am working on currently are more the self-awareness style book, which is outside the norm of my previous two poetic prose style books, and does not fall into the fiction category. I still feel it helped light a flame under me. I won’t finish the entire manuscript by the November 30th deadline but I am on my way to putting together an inspiration-filled self-help, self-awareness book I feel many will relate to. I am only about a third of the way through with hopes to be complete around the first of the year.
The beauty of NaNoWriMo is its concept can be used during any month. Simply set your goal and get to writing. Each word you get down is another word closer to completing that manuscript. Don’t forget to check out Derek’s NaNo Castle post, maybe you’ll find a bit of motivation – if you can overcome the jealousy of not being in a castle for a month.
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Also check out Derek Murphy’s Guerrilla Publishing on Amazon.