[The above is the Toastmasters Speech I gave on the subject Tuesday. Sorry for the position of the camera…but the vocal is good]

One last call to action here. 🙂

NaNoWriMo is less than 48 hours away now.  Join me for an amazing ride!

I love NaNoWriMo. I’ve been participating in it since 2002 or 2003 (I no longer remember exactly, it’s been so long.)

Now, I don’t always get 50,000 words every year. And that’s okay. The important thing is to try. There are so many good things that come out of just trying. For example, the discipline of making a daily goal and sticking to it. (Something I’ve learned a lot about this year!)

Writer Wes Plouff (also a multi-year participant, and occasional blogger on the topic) offers the following advice:

• Don’t think, just write.
• If it’s scrolled off the screen, fix it in December.
• If you’re lucky, at some point your characters will start doing things on their own, and you just have to take dictation.
• Writing 1,667 words each day takes one to two undistracted hours.
• It’s easier than you think because the whole point of the exercise is quantity, not quality.
• Go to at least one event and meet your fellow authors.
• Expect to be surprised by how awful some of your writing is, and how good other parts are.
• Most of all, have fun!

It’s really exciting to be able to post the winner banner on your website at the end of the month. Don’t you want that feeling too? 😉

Let’s take the challenge together.

Feel free to post handles below so we can encourage each other. I’m riesheridan (that’s how long ago I started–I hadn’t added the Rose yet.)

Don’t worry if you start and don’t get to 50k words. It happens to the best of us. The important thing it to try.

So, let’s go WriMo!