NaNoWriMo 2007: One Week 'Till It Starts!

What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo stands for 'National Novel Writing Month', and is best described thus:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. (From the official website: http://www.nanowrimo.org)

It happens every year during the month of November. Winning means reaching that 50,000 word count before the stroke of midnight on November 30. There are no joining fees, or any actual prizes, just the satisfaction of having completed a novella.

It's totally worth it. And I should know, because:


::GRINS::

So there's one week left before NaNoWriMo 2007 starts! Chris Baty, the founder, recommends this as being the best time to start any preparations. From last year's experience, I'd say that at the very least, this week should be used to find all those pockets of spare time in one's daily routine that can be used for writing.

CHECKLIST
+ suitable music for writing - orchestral and mood
+ helpful quotations and poems
+ locate my reference books
+ check coffee supply
+ warm socks
+ more pens (but stay away from new notebooks at bookstore)
+ be nice to the iPod
+ come up with title

The Forums
You can find me over at the NaNo forums as 'looking4mars' :D I usually start off lurking in the "NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul" board (the "NaNoisms" thread is particularly helpful if you feel your sanity slipping away to frolic with your plot bunnies). Then as I get more involved in the writing I would join in at "Word Wars, Prompts & Sprints" (the sprints are excellent for short bursts of frenzied writing). On particularly productive days I'd peek in at "This is Going Better than I'd Hoped", but these are rare occasions. The 'Genre Lounges' are great for asking specific questions. And there are the milestone threads (20,000 words, 30,000 words, and so on) which aren't up yet but will be when it all starts- posting in them as you pass each milestone is just immensely satisfying :-)

Anyway, the more the merrier, so if you feel like giving this a go, please go to http://www.nanowrimo.org and JOIN! There were over 50,000 writers last time, and the numbers tend to go up every year. Or, if you've done it before and already have an account there which I know for a fact a couple of you do, hint hint, why not give it a try this year?

I'm definitely doing original fiction this year, using some ideas from last year (before I switched to fanfiction) and this summer's failed attempt at ScriptFrenzy. Will post more details closer to the date.