NaNoWriMo Barnes and Noble Bookfair

As readers of this blog know, I've participated in "National Novel Writing Month" for the last four years, making this coming November my fifth run at the crazed word race. Last year I wrote just over 102,000 words in November, my personal record. It will be hard to beat that again, but I'm sure going to make a valiant attempt! If you want to track my progress, make sure you follow me on my Twitter account: rlcopple, where I will be giving near-daily updates on my word count.

Now for the news. Each October, our regional liaison/leader, Emily, plans events leading up to the launch date. Last year, she had me give a presentation at the Round Rock, TX library on planing for a novel. This year, she is launching a bookfair at the Round Rock, TX Barnes & Noble. If you are in the Austin, TX area on October 23rd, you can download the flyer to get the date, time, and location.

Around 4:00 pm that day, I will be doing a reading from my published NaNo novel, Transforming Realities. Some other NaNo published authors will be reading from theirs as well, but I would love to see/meet whoever is able to show up for the event. There will be activities going on all day.

So, who all will be doing NaNoWriMo (short for "National Novel Writing Month") this year? Don't know what it is? Really it's quite simple. Even though it is called "national," people from all over the world participate: Europe, Africa, Australia, everywhere. You register (it's free!) at the central site where you will be able to set up your profile, tell about the novel you will be writing, connect with other writers in your area or anywhere in the world, and most importantly, provides a place to enter and track your word count.

The goal is to write 50,000 or more words in the month of November. What you write may be publishable, it may be practice, it may be whatever you come up with. The concern isn't how good it is, or even what it is, but to get the creative side of your brain flowing and give your inner editor a rest for a month...and just write! Most people are surprised by just how good what comes out actually is, and it's the best way to develop and display your voice.

Haven't done it before? Why not give it a try? The worst that can happen is you don't reach 50,000 words. Maybe you only get to 10,000. Hey, that's 10,000 more than you would have had otherwise? It's hard to lose on this, other than not giving it a shot even once.

See you on the NaNo forums, and hopefully if you can make it, to the B&N bookfair.  Write on!