What is Nanowrimo?

November is National Novel Writing Month. If you have always wanted to start a novel, finish a novel or put all those scraps of paper and Word documents into a cohesive piece of fiction than this is the time to do it. There is even a website that will help you to accomplish your goal that is made up of a community of writers supporting each other and lots of tools, advice, support and humor to help you along.

The website is Nanowrimo and the goal is to write 50,000 words of the novel you've always meant to write but never have. You don't even have to finish the novel, but 50,000 words is an excellent start. It doesn't have to be great writing, in fact the Nano website begs you to write as fluidly as you can and leave your inner editor locked up until the month is over. December is slated as the month for editing or finishing the novel. There is no big prize or payment other than a certificate, web icon, and your name on the list of Honor Roll winners. However, you'll have finally written that novel. Remember, it can't get published if it's only in your mind!

All you have to do is go to Nanowrimo.com and register. Then you create your author profile and begin posting your work. Each time you post the Nano "robots" count your words for you and show them above your screen name. You can also provide a novel excerpt that the community can read but it's not mandatory. There are tons of great forums for all the authors and you can add buddies and send each other mail and encouragement. It's a great site for not just working on your novel but creating a network of writers with a common goal-to finally write down that novel!

Nanowrimo also offers a motivational blog and pep talks from published authors such as Sue Grafton-A is for Alibi, Sara Gruen-Like Water for Elephants, and Tom Robbins-Jitterbug Perfume. Imagine having access to the advice and mentoring of such highly successful and published writers for free.

You can sign up for Nanowrimo any time until midnight November 30^th. The website is also available in Spanish, French, German and Dutch. The website has a list of FAQ's, including whether or not you can just write the same word over and over again 50,000 times. The answer is no, you can't, but why would you want to do that? This is an opportunity to get the push you've always wanted to get that novel started or even finished with all the help, support and tools that you need. So what are you waiting for? Sign up with Nanowrimo today and get writing!