It’s NaNoWriMo time! Gimme an N! Gimme an A! Gimme a paragraph that’s a unit of thought!

I really admire the application and steadfastness fostered by the National Novel Writing Month. There’s much to be said for the instinct that can grow from that regular output of writing (1,667 words a day = a 50,000-word novel in the month of November). Plus it’s fun, and you’re writing within a global community that has lots of local groups and gatherings.

But sometimes I wish for an approach that’s a bit less cheerleadery, and a bit more quality. Maybe I’ve simply read a few too many unfiltered outpourings, and wondered if a more measured approach might have been more helpful for the writers concerned. Apparently:

Last year, NaNoWriMo writers wrote a collective total of 3,073,176,540 words. The writing marathon has generated 90 published novels, according to the organizers.

I’ve even heard of some of their publishers.

Gosh, I feel I’ve shown too much of my dark side now. I’ve never done it myself, so what the hell do I know?

Okay. A new type of challenge. How about a NaNoWriThreeMo – a season’s worth of writing? Or even a NaNoWriYear? Something that’s more gradual, more sustainable, less of a binge? It’s not a race, you know.

Meanwhile, the good folk of NaNoWriMo do produce an awful lot of useful resources. And here from Galleycat are 60 NaNoWriMo Writing Tips in a Single Post. (The link to the Fantasy Novelist’s Exam is particularly funny. Question #1: Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages? Hahaha.)