(This is the continuation of a short series on National Novel Writing Month. It's the intent of these posts to get people fired up and thinking about trying NaNo, as well as give those on ADF who are interested a chance to meet and greet. Come comment, ask questions of one another, answer others' questions, and otherwise have fun--that's above all what NaNoWriMo is about. See Week 1's campfire, "Are You In?" , Week 2's campfire, Planning (or Lack Thereof) and Embracing the Zero Draft, and Week 3's campfire, Software and its Discontents)
NaNoWriMo Prep Week 4: Don't Go It Alone
In 2004 I tried NaNoWriMo because a girl in my creative writing seminar the previous spring had constantly been spinning stories off her NaNo novel. I had never heard of the thing before, and despite our professor's disdain for the idea I thought it sounded fabulous. So I researched it, put it on my calendar, and in October, gleefully signed up.
On November 1, 2004 I wrote 606 words of my new masterpiece, THE BAR MITZVAH'S FATHER.
And then I never touched it again.
[more in the comments]