By Angeline Trevena

I met Angeline recently online as part of a group of dystopian writers.  Her series, The Paper Duchess, just saw its last book published last month.  I really identify with this article.  My first NaNo project was the start of the Toy Soldier Saga, and I’m currently revising it at request of a publisher to whom I sent a query.  It’s a big task!  But yes, a good idea never dies.  Not if you don’t let it.

So here we are in November, and a whole load of overly optimistic (or overly crazy) writers around the world are heads down writing like mad for NaNoWriMo. Chances are you know lots of people doing it, but if you don’t know what it is, National Novel Writing Month challenges you to write a 50k word novel in just 30 days. Yes, you have to be a little bit crazy to try it.

I’ve been that crazy six times already. But I’ve only hit that magical 50k three times (since having children, I’ve not managed to come anywhere close!)

As many people as you know doing NaNoWriMo, you’ll probably know just as many who decry it as a joke. An event that promotes terrible writing (by encouraging quantity of words over quality). And they’re right. It is more than likely that your NaNo novel will be terrible. As all first drafts usually are (especially when written in a caffeine-fuelled blur of just 30 days). But what does that matter? Your first draft never sees the light of day.

Read the full article at Angeline Trevena’s blog.