National Novel Writing Month is less than three months away

Hi, Toofancy. Just accepted your friend request. NaNoWriMo runs from November 1 to November 30 every year. The whole thing is on the honor system, so if somebody wants to cheat, and I'm sure there are people who do, nobody's going to know unless they confess. But what's the fun of getting a certificate for something that you didn't really do? There are also some groups that are kind of proud of getting around the rules. I think one group calls themselves the NaNo rebels because they think it's okay to continue with something that you've already partly written. And there's always a forum thread about word count cheats -- like never using contractions, etc. But I'm sure the majority of the participants stick to the rules because that's what really makes it a challenge. If you survive the month and manage to write 50,000 words or more, you really have something to be proud of. I really surprised myself last year, because the most I'd managed to write in previous years was 16,000 words. Last year, I wrote almost 70,000, and the novel still wasn't quite finished.

You'd be amazed how many people with full-time jobs take part. Full-time students, too. I think that's why so many people wind up completely burned out after it's all over. You have to be realistic, not just about whether you can find the time, but how much energy you can put into it. I'm lucky. I live alone, so no family to get in the way. No job. My time is my own, but I'm a low energy person, so the month is very hard for me, physically. But I love it.