The Non-Rules of NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) whips aspiring writers up to writing a 50,000 word draft of a novel in the month of November.  I’ve been doing it off and on for ten years and I have about a fifty-percent success rate.

By success, I mean I finish 50,000 words by November’s end. I can tell you on the years I “win” NaNoWriMo, I am psyched up, excited, and salivating to write every day. I can also tell you, on the years I didn’t win, I was not excited about it, knew I would be too busy, and didn’t really have a story I wanted to write.

So, the question I want to ask anyone who is wondering whether he or she should do NaNoWriMo is this: Does it sound like fun? Or does it sound like a chore?

Well, obviously, I would say if it sounds like a chore, don’t…