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November has become a special month in the life of writers. Thousands of writers will take the challenge of writing a complete book between November 1-30. It all started with a simple idea.
What most aspiring authors really need is a hard deadline and some accountability.
Statistics tell us that more than 80% of Americans say they want to write a book. I know that it has been one of my lifetime goals. When you get a book idea deep in your soul, it is hard to shake it. You do not so much have the idea, but the idea has you. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
“The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” – Frederick Buechner
November is now known in the writing world as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This challenge has also expanded beyond novel writers to non-fiction writers as well. The average book is said to be around 50,000 words. This translates to writing around 1,600 words per day in the month of November. Many famous authors understand the discipline of daily writing.
- John Grisham is known for writing one page every day
- Ernest Hemingway challenged himself to write 1,000 words each morning before he could do anything else
- Stephen King’s goal is to write 10 pages a day
Want to Learn How to Write a Book in 26 Days? Free Book Giveaway!
- Attitude Training: How to get rid of the excuses
- Writing Training: Learning the essential tools and resources to writing a book
- Course Training: Develop a plan for writing your novel or non-fiction book
- Life Training: How to get things done and enjoy the process as a writer
- Inspiration Section: Many tips and ideas on keeping you focused and motivated
- What do you do now? Once the book has been written, here are some next steps
Wow– first comment! Before my kids came along 12 years ago, I was writing fiction regularly and had even won a national fiction writers contest and had attracted the attention of a publisher. Unfortunately, life got REALLY in the way and my dream of publishing a book fell by the wayside. God has been inspiring me, I believe, to explore this path once again. Sounds like this would be a great way to get started!
Life has it’s way of getting in the way! Glad to see you reconnecting with your passion.
Jonathan
Nice article. Writing a book is something I have always thought about doing but never done. It seems like such a daunting task and that I could never complete it. And that is why I think I have never done it.
I am taking a few steps in that possible direction. I have started a blog and have been writing Monday through Friday for it. We will see where it takes me and if I have the courage to actually write a full book.
Hi Joe, That is awesome to hear about the output you are putting in for your blog. All the hard work will come back to reward you.
Jonathan
Awesome to hear Joe. Success follows hard work.
Great message and I want to write my first book in November! I have been blogging now for over a year in hopes of building the content and see what God was planning. It is now time to find out what He intends for me to write. I am praying for a plan and am excited to learn about the write-a thon. Done. Thanks!
Hi Tom, that is great to hear. I have decided to take the plunge and just wrote a blog post about it. Would love to have you join me if you want.
Jonathan
Thanks for sharing Tom. Hope you meet your goal!
Great blog post. I am gearing up to write for NaNo. Attempting to come up with a plot now : D
Awesome Deborah. I am jumping in also. I just published a blog post about it. Feel free to join my group if you haven’t already attached to one.
Awesome, would love to have you join our private facebook group for NaNo.
Jonathan
I want to write a memoir of my experiences as a mother as a legacy for my two daughters. Even if it never gets published, I hope it will be treasured by them. What has stopped me so far is said daughters…taking care of them leaves little time to write! I’m going to hopefully write it in NaNo!
I know what you mean. I have two kids under the age of 9 and life gets busy with soccer games and school field trips, etc. I just figure that the timing will never be perfect so why not just jump right in.
I have several book ideas…some for children’s books & some for fantasy/sci-fi. While I get to write often for my work, it is mostly evaluations of students for professional schools. I’d love to write from my heart with creativity! Thanks for the offer of a free book to help with this!
Hi Darlene. Your exactly right. Writing from your heart with creativity is much different.
I have been encouraged to write a book for my ten grandchildren, their Papa passed away four years ago. At the time we had a blog going to keep friends and family in the know, when I go back to it and read some of the posts I am amazed at God’s goodness in times of such pain and sorrow. It was so important to my husband that his grandchildren would be reminded of him. He said, “When they learn to ride a bike, tell them that Papa was watching them and that he is so proud of them.” He taught us well how to live and how to die, quite a legacy for his six children also. So, maybe it’s time…
That is an awesome story thanks for sharing. Leaving a legacy is one of my main motivators for writing this book. It will be related to finding a meaningful life and work as told through a parable. I want to write it for my kids. They can use it as a guide to find their own purpose and passion. Jonathan
I’ve always had the thoughts but never the confidence to start…
I’ve been where you are. I finally got to the point in my life where I was “ready to fail at something.” Suddenly, failing became less of a pain than thinking, wishing, hoping, that I was going to do something with everything I learned.
I started thinking about writing a book when I learned about NaNoWriMo last year, and so I signed up. I didn’t finish, though. I thought maybe I would after the month had ended, but I didn’t do that either.
I’m going to give it another shot today, this time in WordPress as opposed to in a document. I’ll also take more advantage of local meet-ups and activities.
One of my big obstacles last year was that my story was going to be historical fiction, so I wanted to keep it pretty accurate, which meant I spent a lot of “writing time” doing research. Also, I self-edited far too much. Less beauty, more content this time. This is not a blog post. It’s a novel.
Action is the key for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Best of luck to you in November! I have multiple ideas myself, and I’m finally developing the discipline to just write everyday. Like many others, life is busy with four kids 6 and under that I homeschool, but I have decided that I must apply at least 30 minutes to writing each day even if I must stay up a little later to do it. Fifteen minutes goes to my blog and fifteen minutes goes to the current project outside my blog.
I’m also moving toward a 5 am wake up so I can steal a little more writing time, but it’s a struggle. My nursing baby isn’t consistently sleeping through the night. I am managing to wake up at 5 am once or twice a week.
I’m not planning to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, but I hope to have a bit more writing time by next year. Mayhaps by then I’ll be more consistently waking up at 5 am to steal a quiet hour or two. 🙂
Best of luck to everyone!
Life can definitely be interesting at times Rebecca. Do the best that you can with what you can. That’s my motto. Jonathan
I have a great idea that others say will make it I just needed a fire to light it up… Thank you!
I agree. I feel the same way. One of the main reasons that I am openly talking about writing a book is for the accountability of doing what I said I was going to do two years ago. Jonathan
When my middle child (#3 out of 5) was a baby, I started a novel. I had it well outlined and wrote at least the first chapter. Those I shared that chapter with wanted to know what happened next and pestered me to get on with the story. The demands of life and motherhood overshadowed my compulsion to write, and my would-be audience eventually gave up on me. They may have forgotten, but that story has haunted me for over 17 years. I can’t even find the manuscript of that first chapter, so I’m thinking about starting from scratch and finally writing that story in the month of November. If I accomplish this, the novel will actually be complete before my middle child turns 18, and I could dedicate this coming-of-age story to my baby girl who is “coming-of-age” in a few months.
Hi Rebecca, what a great goal to set. I hope to hear more about your novel. Jonathan
CONGRATS! Rebekah, it was your name drawn out of the hat! You win a free copy of Write-a-thon. Please reach out to me through the contact us form and give me your physical address so that I can mail the book out to you. Thanks everyone for participating. If you are serious about writing a book, you need to get a copy!
Jonathan
Rebecca, I do not see an email address attached to your profile. Feel free to send me an email with your address so I can get your book out to you. Thanks! Jonathan
I joined a writers’ group last year to focus more on fiction writing (I’ve had a blog for 2+ years, and enjoy writing creative non-fiction/essays); I’ve had a few fiction short stories published in anthologies. I want to tackle a novel, and have three separate story ideas roughed out right now.
I just registered for NaNoWriMo yesterday, and look forward to the challenge.
I’d love to get tips and advice about how to accomplish this daunting task.
Awesome Kim. You are a big encouragement.
I am a perpetual writer in progress. I usually have between two and five works in progress, and writing is hardly the problem. Everything is going along nicely, and then it happens. Chapter seven. Somewhere around here, I start questioning everything I’m writing and end up ditching it for another idea. The whole process starts again. I would love to not only write a book, but to continue writing all the way up to the last page. I’ve actually considered the logistics of writing from the end to the beginning just to see if this will help!
Christin you and I are a lot alike. Some people are starters and some are finishers. I love to start things, but like you I do lose enthusiasm if I am not careful. This is why open accountability is important for me. Jonathan
Annually I participate in NaNoWriMo and have successfully met the word count. I have not, however, passed my expectations of a good first draft. I’ve got the serious planned, now I would love to have the help of Ms. Melander.
Thanks for the post!
That is a noteworthy accomplishment Bridget. I agree, now it is time to stretch yourself a bit further. Jonathan
Creative writing is a freeing exercise when done under pressure with no time for thought or control. Contemporary fiction celebrates the innovative, the odd, the experimental. This can only happen if we let our language drive us and we just type furiously until something gets written. It’s raw, it’s incomplete, it’s nonsensical… it’s beautiful.
Well said Jenna! That is so true. There is beauty in the raw form of writing. Sure, there is a time and place for editing. However, we must not lose the creativity of free flow writing and the rhythm of our fingers on the keyboard.
Jonathan
I love reading about all of your writing goals. I encourage you to take the plunge and write a book this November. If that does not work, the book is designed so that any month can be your write-a-thon month! Go for it!
Thanks for stopping by Rochelle and for your encouragement. Jonathan
Well, I want to write a novel simply because, I have a story to tell. We writers are privileged. We see and create worlds, peoples, places, events into existence. I don’t take my talent for granted; I want to use this precious gift given to me.
If I could write a book in 26 days, I’d try my best to write 1 book every month. 12 books for 2012? Hell yeah!
While I have written a children’s picture book, putting together a longer non-fiction book is really my goal. I’d love any help I can get. I’ll send you a copy of My book if I win!
Great post! I’d love to win a copy of Write-a-Thon. I’ve been bad about producing pages.
I wonder if I could write a book in 26 days….I’ve been wanting to write a book forever! I have a journal from my great grandma…been wanting to put that into a narrative.
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I have been writing since I was 12, a defense mechanism for being such a shy kid. I’ve been writing off and on for 31 years. I want to take my passion for writing full time because it is aching deep inside me until I do. Plain and simple I don’t want to leave this life with these words inside me…..
I know a few people who would do well to read this book!
I want to be able to be a writer one day, a published writer. Writing is my life, my soul purpose, my religion it’s what makes me.
Writing has always been a deep passion for me, that was always growing inside of me. I was an avid reader from the moment that I could read. Four years ago, when I was eleven or twelve years old, I started writing. Now when I look back at my work from my beginning years of writing, it makes me shudder. I’ve come such a far way in writing, I still have a long way to go though. Writing is more then a passion to me, it’s my life, my soul, the love of my life. So, if I were to earn this book, it would help me improve my writing skills and give me encouragement even more.
I’ve wanted to write a book all my life. It is just now becoming clear to me that my niche is practical information about natural health. I began a blog (www.Keys
ToRealHealth.com) on Thanksgiving Day last year with your help and have been learning how to self-host and publish it through BYP University courses.
I seem to work best when I have a mentor or an example to follow. For this reason, I would love to have a copy of Write-a-thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days to help me start and finish my first book. Thank you for the opportunity to get a free copy!
I wonder if this is over yet…and I would love to write my book, 12 books in 2012 sounds greats.