NaNoWriMo? NaNoSteemit? NaNoNotSoMuch, but Create Your OWN Challenge!

For a lot of aspiring and seasoned writers, the month of November brings NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo-- short for National Novel Writing Month-- is a worldwide challenge to writers to sit down and write enough every day to have a 50,000 word book, by the end of November. That's 1,667 words a day.

Started in 1999, the event has become a pretty big deal, with hundreds of thousands of participants each year. I have already seen quite a few posts about this year's event here on Steemit, and the #nanowrimo tag gets used quite a bit. This is a link to the current Steemit feed for NaNoWriMo.

Although I have tried to complete the challenge several times, I somewhat shamefully have to confess that I have not actually finished.

My boilerplate "excuse" has generally been that I am not a fiction writer, and this is a novel writing challenge. 

Of course, it's a bit of a lame excuse because for a couple of years I made up my own "rule" to allow myself to participate with non-fiction entries. I didn't manage to complete that modified version of the challenge, either.

I may simply be "allergic" to deadlines and structured "required" writing! 

My wife ( Hive account@cosmictriage ) is trying NaNoWriMo this year, and I feel hopeful that she will be successful-- she's a pretty accomplished writer.

Although I am not a participant this year, I am once again creating my own "mini challenge," this time here on Steemit: I'm going to keep a record of all my posts during November, and treat the "write something every day" and "50,000 words by the end of November" parts of the challenge intact.

I know it's not "the real deal," but at least I can use the challenge as a point of inspiration for my writing... which has been a bit lacking, as of late. I need to get going again... and I often feel inspired when a large group of people are working towards a common goal.

And while doing this, I'd like to invite any Steemit writers to create and keep up with their own challenge during November... copy what I'm doing, or make up your own rules.

We're only at November 4th... so there's miles and miles to go (and catch up, if you need to!).

Remember, this is a challenge, not a contest! There's no "finishing first" or "writing the most" involved here. Just create and have fun!

How About YOU? Are you a writer? Have you ever written a novel, or a book of any kind? Have you ever heard of "NanNoWriMo?" Have you ever participated in the challenge? If so, how did it go? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 171104 14:05 PDT