Write here, right now

I love writing! Any kind of writing really. These days its my letters to penpals and my diary that I write the most but writing of any kind makes me smile. I'm forever writing lists to help me get organised - but then I lose them! And when I find the time I also like writing stories and poems.

I've always liked the idea of writing a book but kind of dismissed it as something other people do. I heard about NaNoWriMo from a penpal in America and decided to add it to the list. It seemed like a good way to finally have a go at writing a book without any real pressure for it to perfect.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month but its actually an international thing. The idea is to write an entire novel in one month. It's more about quantity than quality at this stage, you can always go back and redraft at the end of the challenge.

To be a winner of NaNoWriMo you have to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I've worked out thats 1666.7 words a day which at my new improved typing speed of 31wpm (still not great, but improving) is 54 minutes typing each day. According to the rules, you can't start writing your story until 12.01am on the 1st November but you can do planning and research before then so this weekend I've registered for the competition and made a start on my planning. I've found a great website www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com which has been really useful for ideas and knowing just where to start.

I also decided that while I was thinking about writing I'd make a start on another challenge which is to write using 25 of the prompts at www.creativewritingprompts.com. They probably won't make it in to the story I write in November but they'll be a good way of getting me into the writing habit and the more I write the better a writer I'll become. Can't wait to get started in November!