I’ve decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year.  For anyone who may have just landed here from the planet Zog and not know what this is; it’s called National Novel Writing Month and is held each November.  This will be my first time so I’m not sure what to expect, other than that you have to commit to writing 50 thousand words in a month.  It sounds a lot, a heck of a lot but it’s not really a lot at all.  It’s less than 2 thousand a day and I can do that easily.

I don’t write every single day of the week.  Not because I feel I can’t or because I have writer’s block or anything but just because sometimes I like to watch tv or I’ve got housework or errands to run, y’know normal life stuff that conspires to get in the way of my ‘real’ calling.  I normally write 3 to 4 times a week and once I do sit down to write, it’s nothing for me to write 5 thousand words or more in a day.  Once I start, I can keep going forever so committing to 2 thousand a day will be a breeze.

So, what novel am I going to write during November?  Well my first Sam Sinclair novel is already approaching half way through so I won’t do that.  What I will do is work on my planned short story anthology.  I can easily write a short of around 2 thousand words each day and by the end of November I’ll have a decent sized anthology I can publish.  It will be fun and good discipline, although I don’t lack discipline in my writing it will be good to commit to doing some every day.  You never know, it may even make me more focussed with my writing schedule (what schedule?) on a day to day basis.

I have three of my shorts here so you can see the sort of stuff I like to write when I’m doing shorts.  I’ve just had two shorts accepted for a webzine, which I’m very excited and proud of.  I’ll post the links when it happens and I’ll keep you all updated as to my progress during NaNoWriMo.

I’d be interested to hear of your experiences if you’ve ever taken part.