This week's post is about something different, but there IS a clogging tie-in, promise!
NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, takes place each November. The goal is to write a total of 50,000 words of your book in a month. (This may or may not actually complete a novel.)
Yours truly is giving it a go for the first time! I am not alone in this. At least one other clogger (Good luck to Kimberly in Dayton, Ohio!) is participating AND she's done it before.
Spreading it out evenly, 50K words in November means 1667 words per day. EVERY day. Thanksgiving, Black Friday, rainy Mondays included. (Some writers plan for certain days off, and adjust their daily word count goals accordingly.)
NaNoWriMo focuses on continuously moving forward in your book. No going back for edits until December. This is a big change from my normal writing process. I'm already finding details or scenes I would typically spend time debating are ALL getting added in, with the thought that I can weed out what doesn't work later.
It's more difficult than it sounds. Writing 1667 words for one day isn't so bad. That fourth day is rougher. We'll see what happens by day twenty or so!
That's nice, but where's the clogging tie-in?
My book is intended to be the first in a series about dancers at a fictional clogging studio. The first book follows Chass, a fourteen-year-old who is returning to clogging after an 8-year absence. (Well, right now her name is Chass. It will change if my dear friend Chassidy has any objections. I think she'll be cool with it, though.)
I've been toying with this idea for years and NaNoWriMo is giving me a needed kick in the tush to make it happen! If all goes well, you'll be seeing this book sometime in 2016! (After lots and lots of editing...)
Current working title: Double Toes and Pizza Dough (HKP Clogging Studio Book One)
Now that everybody knows, what happens if you fail?
Completing 50K words is considered a "win" for NaNo. I may or may not reach it in November. However, at the time of writing this post, I already have 5,541 more words than I had in October. Isn't that a win already?
A clogging step?
If Kimberly didn't invent one during her previous NaNo attempt, I may create one before November is done. I suspect my NaNoWriMo step will involve lots of frustrated stomping for when ideas won't flow, mixed with drags for the times I feel lazy and don't want to sit my butt in a chair to write!
If you are interested in participating in NaNoWriMo this year or in the future, you can get more info and sign up here:
If anyone else out there is doing NaNo, message me so we can be "buddies" on the website and keep track of each other's progress!
Who else is working on a new creative project this month? Tell us about it in the comments!