I am not ashamed!

NaNoWriMo is just a few short months away — November, in case you're not familiar with the concept. And if you're really not familiar with the concept, in brief it is this: 30 days, 50,000 words of a brand-new novel. No fair working on an already-begun novel. No fair writing non-fiction.

But what's it for? "Surely," say some, "you don't expect to get something publishable out of it." In fact, I sort of do. Last year's NaNo opus, on which I've already gotten some good feedback, is currently in the revising stage, and I'll start querying agents on it soon. The play I wrote for this year's similar effort for scripts, Script Frenzy, has already received a script-development grant from a major regional (professional) theatre organization here in Australia. It is possible to produce material during NaNoWriMo or Script Frenzy that can be polished into something good. However, that's not really the main point for me.

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year (my second) for a bunch of reasons. First, I'm revoltingly lazy and definitely do not work up to my potential unless I have a deadline. It does not matter whether that deadline is real or a game. Second, I like to know that I have it within myself to do difficult things. Yes, yes, I know I already proved last year that I could be a NaNoWriMo winner (that is, get the 50,000 words written in the 30 days, not actually win over someone else), so why do I need to prove it again? Because winning twice is even harder than winning once, is why. And finally, there's a tremendous buzz in being part of an enormous global community of anxious, whimpering writers all sweating and straining to do something crucial for each of us: write. It's fun to encourage each other. It's energizing to validate each others' writing obsessions, and to be validated. Maybe the resulting writing is art, maybe it isn't. But there's glory in it, and madness, and exhilaration. What's not to like?

You could do NaNo this year, too -- there's plenty of time to register on the site, clear away your November extracurriculars (or at least trim them back to bare minimum), buy your notebooks or memory sticks or parchment scrolls, and get yourself at least a vague idea of what you'll be starting on November 1. Join us, join us....