I’m taking part in National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo, which sounds very Mork & Mindy) again this year. Well, I say again. Last year I signed up to it and I think I managed to write a total of approximately no words towards a novel, so this year I am hoping to at least get as far as putting pen to paper (or more likely finger to keyboard).

Basically, the premise is that you should write a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th, which equates to 1,666 words per day. Because this is quite a great deal of writing, and in quite a short space of time, it is intended to be seat-of-the-pants stuff:

…the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes.What is NaNoWriMo

If there’s anyone else taking part in it, you can keep an eye on how I’m doing by popping over to my NaNo profile. Meanwhile, if anyone has got any great ideas for a novel that they don’t mind me using, feel free to suggest them in the comment form below, otherwise I might end up with…

Once upon a time, there was a lovely little sausage called Baldrick, and it lived happily ever after.Baldrick’s novel in Blackadder III: Ink and Incapability