My NaNoWriMo history until the moment states two participations, two winnings and two drafts of my future books, which I believe I will publish in the destined time. I use the chance provided by the initiative to realize the practical steps along my chosen path of a writer. I would like to meet with other current or future NaNoWriMists as well as with those who are generally interested in the Big writing.NaNoWriMo for National Novel Writing Month is a world-wide initiative, which is held annually in November. Not accidentally, because this month is said to be the most boring throughout the year. It gives two significant opportunities; using this time deprived from events for something reasonable, and allowing the same undertaking the chance to run with maximum concentration. The particular task is to write at least 50 000 words within 30 days of the calendar, beginning as earlier as 01.11 and ending no later than 30.11. For orientation, 50 000 words are 100 pages or a little novel that does not have upper limits and could become a big one. Everyone who has succeeded to cope with the minimum amount for the noted time becomes a winner and receives an electronic certificate after the official validition of the final word count.
The award, however, is not in the prizes, but in the satisfaction of the participants for their efforts given and work done as well as the pride on the personal achievement. The aim of this initiative is to give a motive and stimulate all those, surely, a feeling familiar to many, who have always wanted to write the novel of their life and are convinced that this will happen some day, not to delay any further. NaNoWriMo say that if a one does not do it now, moreover, if they do not even try, they will never succeed. I share their opinion, because to have a book, you, literally, need to sit down and write it first.
It is namely this philosophy that makes meaningless any attempt to manipulate the final result, therefore the initiative policy toward the
rules of conduct are that liberal. The conditions for participation are rather ethical in nature and a matter of personal choice; if it is more important for a one to receive the formal prize at the expense of someone else’s work or even spam, they assign their own reward. Such person will never be a writer, because it is their choice not to write their book. The requirement is to begin, figuratively speaking, entirely from scratch, on a white sheet of paper. Of course, the preliminary preparation on the idea, the plot, the characters, etc. of the future novel is recommended. Their inventing and construction is allowed to begin before the official start, but the time of writing the first word down strikes exactly at 00:00 of 01.11.
In this connection, using old or unfinished stories is not recommended, because the basic idea of the initiative is namely in the thrill of creating something new while outliving both, the challenge and the work of what it means to write seriously. Of course, some writers with more experience and enough material accumulated who do not need experiments and training, only a little more oil to light their fire, could find the benefit by participating in this way. The most important is to be aware of oneself and to know what they want to achieve as well as why they do.
For all the rest who want to be namely writers, to write namely books with the serious intention to be published one day (and hopefully), NaNoWriMo is exactly for us. This initiative offers the motive, the resource and the opportunity to outlay both talent and work in practice and then realized, step after step along the way to be a writer. Of course, the next immediately published books or even a bestseller can be born after NaNoWriMo; the story of the initiative is rich in
examples. The main aim here, however, is different and namely to begin to write, to learn to write and to assure yourself that your place is indeed where you want it to be. In this course of thoughts, the drafts, full of future amendments and the nonsense are expected and welcome, because every true writer knows that no true book comes freely.
