November... Perhaps the word makes you think about how much you're looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner (or not). Maybe it makes you nervous because finals are looming in the near future. Let's just forget about the semesterly judgement day, shall we? I know that the thing I think of when I hear the word November is NaNoWriMo, or to non-novelists, National Novel Writing Month. And no, it's not just another one of those weird holidays that no one celebrates. It started in 1999 with less than two hundred people and continues to this day with hundreds of thousands of writers who commit to writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. Seventeen years later, hundreds of thousands of writers are involved in NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo (For those who can't fit 50K words into their November schedule.) Well, if you happen to be one of the other people, here are 10 signs you should sign up for NaNoWriMo this November.
1) You have always secretly dreamed of writing a novel, duh.
You can be honest here. Have you ever read a book and thought, 'I could do better than that'? Have you ever thought it would be so cool to walk into a bookstore someday and see a novel YOU wrote sitting on a shelf somewhere? It's okay, you can admit it and I won't tell anyone.
2) But either your pesky inner editor has always stopped you...
Did you ever try to write something and you kept thinking stuff like: Eww, that sounds stupid. You forgot a question mark there. That sentence sucks. The whole paragraph sucks. Nope, forget that, the whole darn thing sucks. Yup, that's your inner editor. The good thing is, you'll be too rushed to meet your daily word count, you won't have time to look back.
3) Or you have never been invested enough to get past the first two chapters
See #4.
4) You feel like you can't find the book you want to read.
It probably hasn't been written. Go write it.
5) You need an excuse to be antisocial.
"Do you want to go to the football game with us tonight?" Say's your friend.
"Oh, sorry, I have to work on my novel. I have a deadline to meet." You say. And then you don't have to explain that you hate loud crowds and you don't care about football. Voila, problem solved.
6) And an excuse to procrastinate from homework or just life in general.
This novel, it's probably more important to work on than cleaning the house. Definitely.
7) You've recently binge watched all six seasons of a show on Netflix.
I've been there, I get it, but I'm not gonna lie, it's probably time to find a hobby.
8) You need a hobby that doesn't involve a screen.
A hobby that's not watching Netflix. And yes, I know, writing a novel does involve a computer, but, hey, you can handwrite it if we really want to be picky about minor details like that...
9) English was/is your subject in school...
And you've always looked forward to creative writing assignments.
10) It sounds absolutely terrifying.
But like jumping off the high dive for the first time or standing up for someone. It can lead to anything from finding a fun new hobby to changing your life. Just because it's scary doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, when was the last time you didn't have to take a leap to gain something? So why not take the leap this November and sign up for NaNoWriMo.
