Well, friends, November is upon us, and with it National Novel Writing Month. It’s time to whip out a blank word document, grab the nearest half-baked novel idea, and BS yourself a 50,000-word manuscript in 30 days. This, in case you have somehow missed this critical fact about me, is my absolute favorite writing event of all time. I did my first Nanowrimo in 2011 at the age of 14, loved every second of it, and never looked back. I consider it my personal mission on this earth to spread the good word of Nanowrimo to as many people as possible, and I intend to defend it from its no-fun-having critics until my dying breath.

This month I’ll be posting several times a week, providing hot and fresh writerly content to help you get through the month. The schedule of events will be as follows:

Warmup Wednesdays – The only thing I like more than ranting about how everyone should do Nanowrimo is ranting about how everyone should have a writer warmup, so every Wednesday we’ll talk about a different one for you to try.

Stupid Advice Saturdays – Every Saturday we will delve into a particular piece of writing advice that is trash. The degree of trash will range from mildly distasteful to stomach-turningly terrible. We will have fun.

Story Structure Sundays – Every Sunday we’ll talk about some specific things to know or notice about the part of your novel you’re likely on that week if you’re writing it in order (which, by the way, you absolutely don’t have to, and many people don’t).

Were these particular days chosen purely for the potential for alliteration, and no other reasons? Were other good ideas scrapped because there wasn’t a day of the week to alliterate them with? Why, yes! Yes to both! Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Probably so! And I’d do it again!

I’ll see you tomorrow for the first Warmup Wednesday, with an exercise I use whenever my dialogue is feeling a little off, or when I’m first getting to know a new set of characters.

Happy Nanowrimo!