Taking On The Petite Writing Month

November looms above our heads. Just like October is an important month for artist, November marks an important time of the year for writers all over the world: It is National Novel Writing Month! 

"What is that?" I hear you cry. National Novel Writing Month is a way to keep motivated as a writer. Always had an idea for a novel but the time never seemed right? November is your month now! The official aim is to write at least 50,000 words in this month.

On the website https://nanowrimo.org you can create a profile and share your progress, find inspiration and motivate each other. The idea behind National Novel Writing Month - or in short NaNoWriMo - is not to create a literary masterpiece. Instead it is about getting started and the words on paper!

Every November I arrive with my sleeves rolled up, ready to take the month on and after a week I am 2,000 words behind, no biggie at least until these turn into 10,000 words which is a biggie and I decide to give up.

However, this time I have taken my inspiration elsewhere: from motorsport. Now bear with me.

Everyone has heard of Le Mans before: the gruesome and fantastic 24 hour race. Again, bear with me. What is lesser known is that there is a smaller version of Le Mans as well: Petit Le Mans, which takes place in the United States but we'll gloss over that. Another difference is the duration. It has been changed the from 24 hours to 10 hours. With National Novel Writing Month, I want to try something similar: a Petite Writing Month.


Just like Petit Le Mans is in the spirit of Le Mans while not being Le Mans, my Petite Writing Month is in the spirit of the National Novel Writing Month.

National Novel Writing Month: The Le Mans of Writing

Instead of reaching 50,000 words at the end of the month, I want to hit a measly 30,000 words. After all, I am more a blogger than a novelist, hence my posts and thus my writing tends to be shorter and not as connected as the plot in a book is. Which is the reason why I let the "novel" part slip. I just want to write, no matter what kind of writing. Furthermore, 30,000 words a month, is a mere 1,000 words a day. This puts less pressure on me, especially on days when I work up to 10 hours.

This is still going to be challenging to me because normally I do not write 1,000 words daily. If I had to follow my gut-feeling I'd say that I write between 2,000 and 2,500 words a week. Now, I have to think of enough ideas, posts, stories to write about to reach the word count to begin with.

Naturally, everyone is welcome to also join in with their version of a Petite Writing Month, and if you do so please let me know. Furthermore, I am going to post regular updates and hopefully at the end of the month there is a reason to celebrate!

Updates:

Week I: Finding The Time To Write Every Day
Week II: I Wrote Millions Of Words ... Oh It Was Just Ten
Week III: Reignite The Spark For Writing With FanFiction
Week IV: The Best Writing Motivation In Existence
Conclusion: The Lessons To Take Away From The Petite Writing Month