It’s November, that creatively jam-packed time of year when fingers hastily stab at keyboards and pens scratch lines of prose across paper. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo isn’t a competition. Your sense of completion is your only reward.

So, why the hell should you do it?

This is a motivational period for writers to get off their proverbial asses and, “write that book, already!”

NaNoWriMo began in 1999, the creative brainchild of Chris Baty. He and his team moved the event to November in 2000, as the winter weather drove writers indoors more often than in July (when the event first launched).

The event connects writers across social media around the world. It’s free to enter, but the NaNoWriMo organisation appreciates donations to run their official site (which gives writers fantastic resources) and for their ongoing community projects.

There are no hard rules, per se, except that writers are only allowed to start their prose on Nov 1st, and must end before the stroke of midnight on Nov 30th. NaNoWriMo challenges authors to complete a novel of at least 50 000 words in any language, genre and for any audience. Or, participants can create the first 50 000 words of a novel they’ll finish later.

I’m hijacking the energy and participating in NaNoFinMo – National Novel Finishing Month. My goal for The Queen’s Viper is 90 000 words. I have approximately 45 000 completed, with another 6000 in bits and pieces between chapters. As usual, I have a lot on my plate for November. However, I’m going to wrap myself in the like-minded energies of #NaNoWriMo and finish my book before December.

Just like that.

If you are a NaNoWriMo participant, comment below. Add your website if you have one. (NOTE: having some technical difficulties with my new site. I will display your comments and websites so if you don’t see them yet, be patient. I have peeps working on it). Keep coming back and updating your word count.

This also means that I won’t be participating in NaBloPoMo this year (National Blog Posting Month (blog post a day for a month) either on this blog or Real Women Drive Stick. Don’t despair! You’ll still see blog posts throughout the month.

On that note, good luck with your writing, and enjoy your reading. I’m going to take full advantage of the extra hour tonight and stay up late, typing away with due haste!