#54 NaNoWriMo October

Although October isn't an official part of NaNoWriMo it is still a critical time in the life of your novel. This is when you dream, you make the decision to try NaNoWriMo, and your unconscious brews up the ideas and reserve you'll draw on next month. Without this incubation and commitment period your novel would never come to life.

Happy Cake Day

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! I made myself a lovely cake in MS Paint to celebrate.

#53 NaNoWriMo Intro

Introduction page. This is the elevator pitch version of 'what is NaNoWriMo and why you should go sign up right now.' Did I mention you can get more information and sign up at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ ? I did? Good, now you have no excuse not to check it out. (Well, maybe you do have an excuse; you should probably try NaNoWriMo anyways, though, since excuses will be the death of any creative endeavor. Go ahead, forget them and try something crazy anyways.)

#52 NaNoWriMo Cover

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) happens every November. It's a challenge to write 50,000 words- the equivalent of a short full novel- in a month.

I have personally participated in NaNoWriMo for about five years or so and won/reached 50,000 words three times (if memory serves). I wanted to introduce NaNoWriMo to more people, so I created a comic about what it's like to participate in NaNoWriMo. Each page covers what one week is like, and each page will be posted on the Friday of the week it represents.

I would recommend that everyone try NaNoWriMo at least once. Even if you don't cross the 50,000 word finish line you will STILL likely write more and get farther in telling your stories than you ever have before. If you do finish, then congratulations, you're a novelist! You can wow your friends and colleagues with your new-found title and, who knows, maybe even clean up that rough first draft into something beautiful and get published. It's worth it for the experience alone, and that goes double if you manage to stick to your writing and complete the challenge.

You can get more information about NaNoWriMo or sign up here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ I hope to see some of you in the writing trenches!

#51 Joys of Airports 9

This is a good comic for debuts- now my mom can claim comic book fame if she so pleases. Next week- something completely different!