Home is where the books are.

beer_and_research and I are planning to do NaNo again this year. I wasn't going to officially sign up, I was just going to sort of muddle along in November on my own, but then I saw the Pep Talk list for this year. Emails from Jasper Fforde, Maureen Johnson, Gail Carson Levine, Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce on the topic of writing, appearing in MY inbox? Yes please.

Why do NaNo? My personal motivations are highly similar to my sister's:

Inner Voice: But Sally, you write all the time. Why is NaNoWriMo such a big deal?
Me: Lots of writers joining together on the internet to suffer and create together! A deadline that feels more hardcore than the ones I give myself.
IV: I see.
Me: Also, I'm just a tad bit competitive. If my writing buddies get ahead, it spurs me on to write more.
IV: What if you get distracted by a cute little story idea in a fetching outfit?
Me: I won't flirt with it! I'll stay true to my NaNo Novel. I swear.
IV: We'll see...

I think the real charm of NaNo is that a whole bunch of people who are PROBABLY #lofnotc, I'm just guessing here, get very excited about trying to write novels. Does everybody have a novel in them? Sure. Is it a good novel? No. Do I care? No. It's about making up stories. I think there's something fundamentally good about people sitting down and trying to make up stories, and telling each other stories, and participating in the act of storytelling together. NaNo is a giant virtual fire circle, around which we all sit and raise our voices in telling tales. I've read some awesome stuff that's come out of NaNo, and I've read some real crap. It is a MONTH-LONG PARTY ON THE INTERNET about WRITING. That is the point, from my perspective.

Here are some useful and amusing NaNo tools:

Write or Die: I am more charmed that this exists than I am likely to use it. You type words into a box. If you're not typing, the background slowly turns an angry red. There are Other Consequences.

Some word meters for keeping track of progress.

Also, Scrivener has a special deal for NaNo participants. Scrivener can only be used on Macs. Cue tears. Recommended free software for Windows Users includes yWriter, which supposedly has all kinds of handy methods for organizing various projects.

So, anyone else on board this year?