Should I do NaNoWriMo this year?
Whether or not I do is in question. Here’s why: I’m currently working on three novels. Yes, I’m crazy. Currently, the momentum I have working on all three is going well. I don’t want to break it.
I also have three or four outlines of potential novels. I want to use them for NaNoWriMo projects. That’s the joy in NaNoWriMo: unabashedly writing a rough draft of a story.
So, should I use NaNo to continue what I’m already working on or start something new?
Again, I ask: Should I do NaNoWriMo this year?
I’ve decided the answer is yes.
I’m going to write scenes for all three of my writing projects. At the end of the day, I’ll add up my word count, just like I would for any NaNoWriMo.
Most years, I’m eager to use NaNo to start something new, but this year I’m more eager to continue making progress on my current stories.
Ultimately, NaNoWriMo is about having fun writing. And this year continuing my journey on what I’ve already started sounds more fun.
What is NaNoWriMo?
“National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing . . . National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.”
What is Preptober?
October is preparing for NaNoWriMo, or as it is more commonly called Preptober. During the tenth month of the year, a participant in November’s NaNoWriMo can do anything except the actually writing. Preptober is for outlining, creating characters, making scene lists, etc. The actual writing starts in November.
Andrew M. Friday 
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