A Writer's Biography, Volume II, Part 2: The NaNoWriMo Experience

It's starting up again as November 1 draws nearer. Nobody seems to talk about All Saints' Day anymore (at least that's what it seems on my social media feeds, but it's not like that covers a true cross-section of America or the world or anything like that).

Yes, the new secular writing holiday, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us. For those not familiar with the event, it began last Thursday 1999 in the San Francisco Bay area. The goal is for participants to write a full 50,000 word novel in the 30 days November provides. It's the idea that you can finally get that novel out of your system.

If you do not know already, word count and writing production is something that I've become a bit obsessed with. To make it to 50,000 words in 30 days, you have to write around 1,667 words per day. That's a pretty fast clip. 50,000 words is not a massive novel, by the way - it's pretty short by today's standards. It's not quite novella length, but it's a short read. The Great Gatsby, …