Happy Tuesday, friends—and Happy October 1st! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great start to your week.
We’re officially in my favorite month of the year. Fall is in full swing, both of my kids are having birthdays, and there is also Halloween! Seriously, the best season of them all.
The other tremendous news for all writers out there is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which begins one month from today.
NaNoWriMo originated as a challenge for fiction writers to complete one novel in the month of November, but I’ve seen non-fiction writers use it as an opportunity to work on non-fiction projects, as well, and poets converting it to a daily poem challenge. It’s a great platform for everyone!
So the question I have for you is this—Are you ready to write your first book? Is this your year?
Technically, any year, any month, any day could be your time. You just have to make the decision to sit down and start (and eventually, finish!).
But I want to challenge you to make NOW your time.
Just like having children, starting an exercise routine, or moving to a new place, there is never a “good time” to do it. If you look hard enough, there will always be obstacles standing in the way of your success. But if you look hard enough in the other direction, you’ll be able to find the time, energy, and inspiration you need to start working on your book.
Just imagine: You start working on this new, scary project in November, and by the end of the month or the beginning of the New Year, you have a draft in your hands. Think of that. You composed an entire book, and now it’s time to revise it and decide how you want to put it out into the world.
I want you to experience that great feeling of accomplishment now, not next year or ten years from now.
I am a testament to this. I’ve drafted out several books, but they didn’t turned out to be books that I wanted to share with the world. Maybe my feelings about them will change with time, and I’ll go back, significantly revise them, and then seek out a publisher. But the feelings I have about the two books I’m working on right now? These are going to be my first and second novels that the world gets to see. I’ve decided that, and I’m fighting for them. I’m finishing at least one of them during NaNoWriMo, and I’m aiming to finish both of them by the entrance of the New Year.
I want you to fight for your work, too!
I hope that you’ll join me for this NaNoWriMo, whether you use the NaNo platform or work in Google Docs or wherever else you work best.
So much so—I have a few opportunities to share with you.
First of all, I’ve enjoyed the experiences I’ve had as a writing coach, and I’m always open to working with new writers. You could have a few books under your belt like I do, and this is the first one that you’re taking seriously. You could be brand new to this, and you’re not entirely sure what all this “novel-writing business” entails. You could even be a seasoned author who likes a second pair of eyes on their work. I’ve worked with all these different author “character types,” and I’ve loved working with them all.
That’s the first opportunity. If you’re worried about approaching your first novel, staying on-task, being able to fit all this writing into your schedule, fully fleshing out a plot, etc., I’m here for you.
I’m also giving out a few writing resources, closer to the end of the month, as part of my celebration of Halloween. There are going to be three resources, and there’s going to be a “trick-or-treat” option.
I don’t want to give away all the fun yet, but these resources are going to help you plan for your novel, even last-minute, so that you have a sense of what you’ll be writing about going into the month of November. There will be useful information contained in these resources, as well as writing prompts and outlining models that will carry through the Fall to the final lines of your novel draft.
I’m so excited for this month! I’ll be sharing stories of birthdays and apple-picking and poetry reading, for sure. I hope to hear from some of you about working together this NaNoWriMo, too—and I can’t wait to share these resources with you when they go live.
Happy Fall, everyone! Happy October 1st!