My Own Mini-NaNoWriMo

Most writers are familiar with the famous NaNoWriMo, the month in November when thousands of people pledge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Yesterday, I joined with some of my writer friends to form our own personal NaNoWriMo.

But NaNoWriMo takes place in November, you say. Why do this in August?

Well, one of our the most successful members of our little group mentioned that her publisher wants revisions on 35,000 words by the end of August and put out a plea for others to join her in making similar commitments. Another participant in our merry band said her agent wanted her to make substantial changes to her next novel. And still another member mentioned that she was preparing a collection of short stories for a competition with a pressing deadline. I added that my mentor wanted a complete draft of my novel by the first of December. In short order, we had almost ten people discussing deadlines and goals, and thus, our private NaNoWriMo was formed.

The leader of our group put together a few rules for us to follow. They were so well-crafted that I thought I would share. To find the goal for the daily word count, she averaged the goals of the various participants.

The Rules
Word count goal for each week--5600 words. That is an average of 800 words a day. If you go over the average on one day, you can carry them over to the next. If you don't make the goal, you keep on slogging through.

Any genre, any combination of genres, is acceptable. You can combine two 100-word poems with a 600 words from a short story to meet your daily goal.

Commit to one week at a time. You can quit after one full week, but no quitting mid-week. If you commit to a week, you stick it out until the end.

Support your fellow writers. Be sympathetic if they're struggling but keep encouraging them to meet the goal.

On Aug. 31, we will all celebrate!

So what is your mini-NaNoWriMo goal?

Anyone who wants to join me in writing 5600 words a week is welcome to post his efforts and successes in the comments session. I will be there to cheer you on!

My word count for 8/1/08: 1894 words