My little NaNoWriMo

Write a novel in a month—are you kidding me? 

NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, is held every November and involves a grinding daily word count towards a complete 50,000-word manuscript. 

I’ve admired the people who pull it off. But either November was a lousy month for me to join or, more often, I was just chicken.

So, ever-resourceful me, I created an alternative: LoWriMo (low-pressure Writers’ Month), a private Facebook group for the past November. 

I invited the writers I knew in my circles, and five kindly responded: one who had published several novels, a journalist shifting to fiction, a prolific blogger dabbling in historical fiction, a graduate student exploring sci-fi, a budding children’s author, and me. An interesting mix. 

The participants in LoWriMo were welcome to work on any writing project of their choice, i.e.: brainstorming, researching, plot development, actually creating a draft, mildly keeping in touch, etc. 

The weeks rolled by, and our small number kept the group interactive without bogging down the site with posts. Low-pressure, remember? 

My job was to post dumb jokes and keep an eye on the mob, who turned out to be very nice people. I had fun, and by some miracle, happened to sketch a satisfactory draft of a novel.

Want a little company while you muck your way through writing or the business of writing? Consider creating your own little LoWriMo—any old month you want.