The Spirit of NaNo

"I think the scene---full of smack-talk and muffin crumbs on our keyboards---would have rightly horrified professional writers. We had taken the cloistered, agonized novel-writing process and transformed it into something that was half literary marathon and half block party." - Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo

NaNo has two key goals: to write a novel, and to have fun. The first is obvious, since it is right there in the name, but the second is equally important. Frankly, writing a novel in thirty days is a ridiculous goal, so it's only right that NaNoWriMo itself is a little bit ridiculous.

You get a sense of this silliness from the NaNo site and the forums, but it is espeially noticable when you meet other WriMos ln person. The Kick-Off Party is a lot of fun, the Write-Ins will keep you going when you want to stop, and the Thank God It's Over Party is something else entirely, with all the relief and elation mixed with burnout and residual stress.

So have fun with it! Get in the spirit. Wear comical hats. Put silly details in your stories. Meet your fellow WriMos and enjoy the shared nuttiness of the thing that we're all doing.