NaNoWriYear: Progress!

Last November, I posted that I was embarking on a [not exactly National] Novel Writing Year, which really just means that I’m trying to finish one novel in a year. (I emphasize one because I’ve heard of a few people doing a “NaNoWriYear” challenge wherein they write twelve novels in a year. Good for them. That is not what I’m doing.)

Well, I offer you a short update: The novel is being written! Hooray for me.

It’s going slower than I expected, but I’ve managed to bump up my word count during Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July. Camp NaNoWriMo is sort of a bonus writing challenge run by the NaNoWriMo folks where the word count challenge can be anything greater than 10,000 words.

In the interest of keeping up my progress so I can finish this novel by November, I’m trying to write at least 15,000 words per month. Since I’m addicted to Writing Months, I signed up for AugNoWriMo.

I shall do SeptNoWriMo and OctNoWriMo too, if that’s what it takes (even if one of those isn’t a real thing). I’m going to write this novel.

If any of you WriMo types are working on your own writing challenges, may I recommend WriteTrack? It’s a great site that keeps track of your word count goal and progress, making handy charts for those of us who like that sort of thing. (It’s a free site, but if you dig it, consider donating to help with the expense of hosting!)

And if you’re much, much crazier than me, and more eager to get that novel down, check out the 3-Day Novel Contest, in which writers compete to write a novel over the Canadian Labour Day weekend (Aug. 31 – Sept. 2, 2013). This insane goal fortunately comes with extra incentives: One publishing contract up for grabs, and cash prizes! If you’re capable of staying conscious and coherent for 72 hours straight, this might be for you.

So, there you go. The writing is happening here. There’s probably more I should tell you, but I really need to get back to my manuscript! Thanks for checking in.