NaNoWriMo

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Every year in November, thousands of people write a complete novel of at least 50,000 words. Accomplishing that task is considered a "win." Many people, of course, try and fail. Since this is my first time, I could easily end up in that second group.

This is the third year I've seriously considered it but the first year that I've reached mid-October with the plan still in place. Apparently, it helps if I don't think about it too long. In 2006 and 2007, I was coming up with story ideas in August. This year, I was too busy with Missouri Library Association Conference planning activities to contemplate the notion until this past week.

I've always thought that libraries and librarians could be doing more with NaNoWriMo, starting with offering space for local participants to meet in person and with advertising NaNoWriMo and the reference desk with signs that say something like "The Library Loves NaNoWriMo!"

I'm going to blog some of my NaNoWriMo activities in the hope that other library / NaNoWriMo ideas will crop up either in my mind or yours. I also created a special Twitter account for NaNoWriMo, WriterJoy, -- I didn't want to inundate all my librarian Twitter followers with NaNoWriMo updates unless they wanted them.