NaNoWriMo - I Surrender!

Please read my post here regarding my failed attempt at writing a novel. I'm so disappointed in myself. But don't fret. There's always next year!

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

I've always enjoyed writing. When I was in middle school, I wrote short stories. I had tens of spiral notebooks filled with stories written in my bubble handwriting. In high school, I took Creative Writing classes. And I took extra English classes because I thought it would help me with my writing. I've always felt that I should have been a writer even though I didn't think I was good enough to be one.  One of my goals for 2009 is to take a writing class. Well we're at the end of October and I haven't managed to take a writing class yet. I haven't had the time or the money.  So imagine my excitement when I was reading Reads4Pleasure's blog post about NaNoWriMo. I immediately went to the website and signed up. Here's my chance to write! It's not in a classroom setting but who cares. It's better than nothing. And it's something I've always wanted to do. I can't wait to get started.

Here's the info:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.