Entry # 186 - "Good Things from NANO"

Photo - Jim Wilson - Oct. 2013

November is National Novel Writing Month and all across the known world, people are engaged in writing, as quickly as possible, the first draft of their great novel.  Referred to as NANOWRIMO, or as one friend affectionately calls it,  "MY NANO" the adventure requires writers to sign up and make a commitment to themselves, and the world, that they will dedicate daily time for the entire month  of November to producing as many words as possible on a single novel. 

The NANO website supports writers and encourages them. Writers set up charts to track daily progress and the site provides a means for online pep talks, answers questions, as well as offers links for writers to meet fellow writers online and in person, to set up writer support groups.

NOVELS - many of which most people have never read.

It is a brave thing to do. Most writers are capable of producing "buckets-of-words," and while most enjoy producing lots of words, they realize that someday they'll need to revise. They won't need every word they've written.

But right now, the rush is on to write like a demon. And that is a good thing.

Truth be told, writers know that no one wants to read all of those words in their unrefined wildness. Nevertheless, (I've wanted to use that word somewhere all day) the process gives many writers the "kick in the pants" they need to complete a book. And that is a good thing.

A couple of my writer friends are focused on getting words on the page. Their conversations begin with numbers. Went for a walk Tuesday and saw one of my neighbors. "I got 6000 done over the weekend and I'm averaging 2000 each morning. The words just pour out," she says. "It is a thrill to get lots of words on the page."  Indeed most writers feel great about producing quantity. The process frees up the writer within to experiment with new ideas.  Later they'll worry about the quality. And revising those 50,000 or more words will take more than a month. This is a large and small good thing.

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Coming Soon - Mermaids & Other Stories - by Jan Bowman

About Jan Bowman

Jan Bowman’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others. Glimmer Train named a recent story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers. Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan's stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, a Pen/O’Henry award and a recent story was a finalist in the 2013 Phoebe Fiction Contest; another was a 2012 finalist in the “So To Speak” Fiction Contest. She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, with a working title of Mermaids & Other Stories. She has nonfiction publications in Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at www.janbowmanwriter.com or

visit blog:  http://janbowmanwriter.blogspot.com