November is coming....soon

 

For the last 13 years, I have participated in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. I've not always "won" this event, which generally requires writing 50,000 words during the month of November, but I've always benefited from it. I've completed and published two novels that started in NaNo, drafted two novellas that may someday see the light of day, and made progress on two more novels. 

This time I hope to draft more material for a book I started last summer. I love the sense of immersion in another world that happens when I participate in this event, and I'm looking forward to starting again tomorrow.

One note, I feel I should make: the NaNoWriMo organization has had a number of difficulties this year, largely stemming from their lack of moderation of social media spaces they maintained for young writers. The organization's response to this is posted here, so I won't repeat all this - and I don't actually know all the details. 

This controversy has led some participants to leave, but I've decided to stay. I feel the current organizers are doing their best in a difficult situation. I don't believe we should leave, or threaten to leave, whenever a group (or, ahem, country) does something we disagree with, It doesn't solve anything or help anybody to walk away when someone disappoints you. 

So, I'm cleaning my desk and making room for a new writing project. See you on the other side, with (hopefully) 50,000 new words that haven't yet been written.