NaNoWriMo Discussion: Are You In?

Photo credit: Sashala on Flickr

Incredibly, there are now officially less than thirty days until November, which means, of course, that NaNoWriMo is less than a month away.

Confession time: I mentioned this last year, but I haven't ever done NaNoWriMo. I've written a book in a month before, and I've definitely written 50k in a month more than once, but November tends to be a notoriously busy time for me, so I never accomplished either of those feats in the month of November.

As a writer who has never participated in NaNoWriMo, I can't talk about the event from experience (obviously), but only from what I've observed. From what I've seen, NaNoWriMo seems to be a fantastic opportunity for writers to get a significant amount of writing done with the encouragement and excitement of thousands of other writers also working on a project at the same time.

Now, I may not be able to talk about NaNoWriMo from experience, but I can tell you that writing with encouragement from a supportive community of writers not only makes the sometimes grueling experience of writing a novel much more enjoyable, but it can also help motivate you to write faster, longer and more often. As a bonus, when you finish your WIP, there are writers out there happy to celebrate with some virtual confetti and balloons with you.

Getting back to NaNoWriMo, from what I understand the celebration is a lot more than just virtual confetti. Last year some of the prizes for those who completed 50k within the thirty days got 50% off of Scrivener and five free paperback copies of their book from CreateSpace as well as other goodies.

In short, NaNoWriMo is a month long event that I feel could be highly beneficial to writers of all skill levels, regardless of whether or not you actually complete the 50k. Don't underestimate the power of an encouraging community and extra motivation to write—sometimes it only takes a little push to inspire you to create something great.

So now I turn the discussion to you, fellow writers. For those of you who have done NaNoWriMo in the past, what was your experience like? For everyone else, will you be doing NaNoWriMo this year? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below!