We will not try to write 50,000 words in a month. We will write 50,000 words in a month.
This is NaNo, the battle of mind and fingers against the word count and time. This is a time for silly tricks and rule breaking and letting go of obligations. This is the time for us to all, as writers, work together and prop one another up. A time to write I am instead of I'm and a time to give our characters three-word names, all in the name of word count
This is not a time to try.
It is a time to dream and to drink too much caffeine and to bore our coworkers with our plot problems, a time to remember how many pages 50,000 words are (approx. 200), a time to accidentally put on our shirt inside out because we were typing while we got dressed.
This is a time to throw out all conventional wisdom and all brevity, it is a time to skip sleep and laundry and to watch the mess pile up in the living room and shrug it off. We are too busy writing.
This is a month to write, free and clear of any shoulds and shouldn'ts we have accumulated across our lifetimes of composition lessons and writing books.
This is a time to breathe words, to get lost in thoughts of our characters, to learn the first names of the baristas at the closest cafe, to describe our lives in our heads as if we were narrating every moment.
It is the time we get together in a collective insanity, an insanity spanning the world, spanning abilities and ages and genres, all to write 50,000 words in a single month.
It is a time to be warriors, to fight and to win, no matter what kind of literary carnage lies in our wake.
So when someone asks us,
“Are you really going to write a novel in a month?”
We do not look down at our toes and say,
“I'll try.”
We look them right in the eye, our our shoulders back, and say:
“I will.”
Because dammit, we will. Just try and stop us.
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The official blog of Michelle Tuckett, word ninja. 
“Do or do not. There is no try?”
The Force is strong with this one.
You beat me to that response! I was going to put on my Yoda Halloween mask and say those very words. lol
So lovely to be surrounded with geeks. It warms my bionic heart.
I usually keep my mouth shut, but I couldn’t resist this one.
lol
If I were wearing a hat, I’d take it off to you. I have to say – you have been remarkably consistent in this journey. But you still take time to blog, to be supportive and encouraging to other writers, to give your observations and advice, and to really delve into the process of writing.
Trying to make my 50Ks has made me more verbose than I was before. But in one word, the overall effect of your efforts is breathtaking.
You are too kind, friend, but I do appreciate it. I really do want to be a source of inspiration to others, and though what I’m doing has benefitted me personally and professionally as well, it is seeing what other people get out of it that keeps me going.
I’m glad to hear that you are still working at it! How is your progress going with the 50k goal?
Won’t make it for October. I did for the last several though. I can’t say anything for quality … but I like the ideas and certain parts of them.
Reblogged this on Salon Auteur and commented:
I suspect Pixie may be exaggerating a little about you never sleeping, eating, or washing yourself or your possessions if you dedicate yourself to NaNo (I mean, it’s only 50k words, not 250k!). But I fully endorse this positive attitude towards completion. If we tell ourselves, particularly now in the planning stage, that NaNo is an impossible task, it will be so. Rather, now is the time to psych yourself up for it. You WILL write a novel this November—that’s the point.
Be sure to read her other NaNoWriMo Prep posts to get an experienced eye on what your November may be like. If you have a contingency plan for when the laundry starts to pile up (like pre-sorting your dirty clothes when you remove them), that’s going to help you quite a bit, and prevent more extreme behaviours like going nude all month (unless you normally do that anyway).
Well I really don’t ‘get it’ but good luck in your endeavours.