By G. Robert Frazier

I’m starting National Novel Writing Month a day early.

Unlike the official NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in 30 days at 1,666 words per day, I’m targeting 100,000 words at 5,000 per day over 21 days. My weekends are set aside for other projects.

Image courtesty of surasakiStock at FreeDigitalImages.net

I know, it seems like a lot, especially given the fact that I have been spending most of my writing time working on screenplays. Novels are a whole different animal, so it’ll be interesting to see if I can make the mental switch from writing tightly crafted scenes to more expansive scenes. Though, I can get long-winded at times, so there is that.

Another advantage, or perhaps cheat, is that I won’t exactly be starting cold on my novel.

This is a novel I started a couple years ago but put aside to work on other projects. I’m more than 30,000 words into the novel already and I have already outlined it from beginning to end, so there won’t be a lot of brainstorming involved.  I feel like NaNoWriMo is the perfect opportunity to dust it off and push to the finish.

If I manage just half of my goal, I will still hit NoNo’s 50,000 word goal and reach 80,000 for my WIP overall. So, I’m setting the bar high. The biggest challenge will be embracing the novel as is and not falling into the potential trap of rewriting what I’ve already written, which could wreak havoc on the word count.

I’ve tried NaNoWriMo a time or two previously, but never saw it all the way to the end. I intend to change that this time around.

I’ll be updating my word count at the end of each day here on this blog. I even posted a NaNoWriMo icon and word counter on my home page to mark my progress.

As the month progresses, I hope to chronicle challenges and successes I encounter along the way. But my priority will be on the novel itself, not on blog posts—so it may be next month before I post a recap. It’ll give you something to look forward to.

In the meantime, I challenge and welcome you fellow writers and readers to get in on the action.

NaNoWriMo Tips and Tricks

• Grant Faulkner, executive director of National Novel Writing Month, explains how participating in NaNoWriMo can lead to a lifetime of better writing
• Jane Friedman shares how to build a believable chain of events
• 25 top articles on how to write a novel.
• Writing the novel’s middle
• 38 tips for kicking NaNoWriMo in the butt this year
• Blogger Shaunta Grimes on why she’s playing anyway
• Penguin Random House’s stable of writers offers these tips and techiniques
• Sally O’Reilly’s perks and perils of writing a 50,000 word novel in a month.
• Chris Fox shares how to develop a lifelong writing habit
• Brian Klems shares: 9 ways you succeed when your first draft fails