NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 1 (aka ElNoWriWe 2010: Day 1)

I am officially unofficially participating in NaNoWriMo this year. Yes, go ahead and reread that. It takes a few read-throughs to wrap that idea around the brain, I know. (BTW, NaNoWriMo=National Novel Writing Month, for the two or three people on the planet who haven't heard of it yet.)

Got it? Good.

The reason for this is because, for the last month or two, I've been attempting to write a new WIP (WIP=Work-in-Progress, for you non-writerly folk out there who keep asking if I write in English anymore). I've been stuck at about 5,000 words of a 30,000-word middle-grade novel. And so I needed to kick-start this WIP.

But, you see, NaNoWriMo is all about writing a BRAND NEW 50,000-word novel in one month. And since I didn't want to start a new book--I wanted to kick-start an old(ish) book--I decided to unofficially participate.

However, I'm not really concerned about writing 50,000 words. I'm concerned about getting this stinkin' first draft finished.

Enter ElNoWriWe.

ElNoWriWe is my attempt at finishing this stinkin' first draft. ElNoWriWe=Elissa's Novel Writing Week, where I will attempt to finish an entire middle-grade novel in 5-6 days.

Yes, go ahead and reread that, too. I assure you you probably read it right the first time, but maybe your brain didn't think so.

You caught up with me now? Good.

The goal: write 5K words a day (that's 5,000 for those who...well, quite honestly everyone should know what K stands for) for 5-6 days until the first draft is finished. I'm figuring this draft will be about 30,000 words, give or take.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find 5-6 consecutive days with enough writing time left over after everything else I need to accomplish, so I'm shooting for 5K today, tomorrow, and Thursday this week, then Monday-Wednesday next week (if all goes well).

Now, I know you think there's no way I can do this. Go ahead and laugh at my idiocy. It's okay. It wouldn't be the first time someone's laughed in my face.

And while you laugh, I will calmly point out that I wrote the first draft of my first novel--the novel that I got an agent with and the one that is currently on submission--in three days. Yes. You can reread that, too.

Now that you're not laughing, I'll also calmly point you to my word count for today:

Make your own progress meter at http://www.writertopia.com/toolbox/meters

Rock on, dude.