NaNoWriMo 2010 is nearly here!

Good Morning Guys!

How are we all today? Good? Good! :)

Well today is Saturday and as of yesterday, the 1st October 2010 the NaNoWriMo Registration is officially OPEN!

What is NaNoWriMo? Well if you have to ask, you are probably new around here, but thats ok...we like fresh meat at the table. Hello newbie...HUGS!

NaNoWriMo is a really short way of saying National Novel Writing Month and thats what we are all here for. Its a chance to dig out your pens and pencils, get your laptops and netbooks whirring, dust off your typewriters and start flinging words down on the page like a crazed author at the asylum. The challenge? To write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days! I know, scary huh, but seriously after the first week its easy as pie. You get your rhythm, work out when to sleep and when to write. You realise that there is no time for worrying about spelling and grammar...no time to think 'did I put that comma in the right spot back on page two'. You begin to think like a NaNo-novelist! 'Who cares, just get those words down on the page and do it fast, I can fret over those pesky commas later'. The great thing is, you don't even need to have written a word in your life before starting the NaNo-challenge and it really doesn't matter if you write stuff that absolutely sucks! No, seriously, I'm not kidding...writing really badly is fabulous!

As the genius that is Wil Wheaton (yes that bouffant haired starfleet academy wannabe from Star Trek Next Gen) tells us:

"The advice that I always give writers is the best advice that was given to me. Don't be afraid to suck...and you're gonna suck, and thats ok! Its easier to fix a page that is full of words that suck, than it is to fill up a blank page, its much less intimidating. I operate like that. I'm on the first draft of a story right now and its terrible, but its ok because I know that when I get around to fixing it, its going to eventually get to where I want it to be."

So get started, right now...stop procrastinating and take five minutes out of your day today to think about the characters that live inside your brain and let them come live in our world for a time. Make that time November and come join us all for a month of solid word crunching madness. You have to be a little crazy to make that decision to plough through a 50,000 word writing challenge and expect to still be alive at the end of it all, but guess what. We did it last year and we are all still here. In fact we loved it so much, we continued to meet up every single week since to edit our masterpieces and eat cake. Thats right, cake! You can't be expected to put in all that work and not at least get a slice of cake to chow down on.

So, now you are wondering what to do, huh? Well, I'll make it easy for you...just follow these five little steps and you will be a novelist in no time:

1) Sign up for NaNoWriMo 2010 at the following website - it is completely free to do and will give you all the information, forums, video diaries and free stuff (yep, stuff!) that you need to get started...you can even go there and buy a T-Shirt (you know, 'Been there...Bought the...'). There is a little Sign Up Now button at the top of the page, see it? You got it! Press that button and sign yourself up.

NaNoWriMo 2010 - Sign Up Now

2) Now you have signed up, join the Edinburgh Region group (thats us!) by going to:

- My NaNoWriMo - My Regions - Europe::Scotland::Edinburgh

3) There may be messages here (read them and learn some more about us, we are pretty darned awesome!).

4) See that Google Calendar on the page? Get your diary out and fill it up with all the Write In dates and Events we have posted. Come along to as many as you can manage, even if you have missed a few, we don't mind and remember...there will be cake! :)

5) Visit our blog at:

NaNoBeans Blog

Have a read through, check out our photos (so you can recognise us when you attend Write Ins for the first time) and become our friend on Twitter and Facebook:

Twitter: NaNoBeans

Thats it, you are now a NaNoBean! Welcome and we look forward to seeing your excited/terrified/happy/tired/stressed/thrilled little faces throughout NaNoWriMo 2010!

I'm excited, are you? Brilliant! So get going, right now - you don't even have to get out of bed if you don't want to, but you do have to sign up for NaNoWriMo 2010. Why? Because we think you are awesome and we want to meet you, so follow the five easy steps above and we shall see you soon at NaNoWriMo 2010!

High Five my lovely novelists! :)

*Beaming up*

Toodles!
K.