The Value Within

On November 1st I embarked on a 50,000 word journey. But unlike other novel writers in the academy I did not embark on a lengthy first draft process; I sprinted from the marathon start line knowing that was the only way to accomplish my goal: writing a 50,000 word first draft within the next calendar month.

As of Sunday night my novel stands at 4,768 words. The word counting widget on this page may, or may not agree -- the traffic on the NaNo page is overwhelming so I'm having trouble logging on to update it.

I have done this before -- I devoted my entire month of January to a novel in 2008 -- and everyone I told was extremely supportive if completely mystified by my sudden desire. I have wondered, however, if now that I am an MFA candidate and part of "the academy" if the reaction would be different.

I'd like to say that they'd just see it as another wild and crazy artsy thing to do ... but I don't know for certain that this will be the action. I've told one person in the entire English department about it ... and I'm pretty certain I'll never bring it up to my workshop. They're ... um ... how do you say? ... particular.

But for those people who need a more rationalized description of my endeavor I give you the following article from Associated Content.

NaNoWriMo: The Value of National Novel Writing Month
I provide a description of the value of NaNoWriMo, and an answer to obvious criticisms of the program.
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NaNoWriMo or Bust!