Kristen Byers

So I’m registered for NaNoWriMo this year. For those who have no idea what this means, it means I am participating in National Novel Writing Month. In order to “win”, you have to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I’ve joined the Santa Cruz and Monterey wrimos groups in hopes of meeting up with some other local folks who are also attempting to pen a novel in only 30 days. My username is kristenbyers if you’d like to connect with me on nanowrimo.org!

I’ve read about NaNoWriMo for the past 7 or so years now. LiveJournal always promotes it and every year I’ve seen the announcements and thought, “I should do that.” Well, now I’m finally doing it. I think I will be able to win as long as I set aside time each day to write about 2,000 words.

Yup, I’m probably crazy.

So what have I been doing to get ready? Mostly prepping my computer and working on a rough outline. Looks like Storyist is my weapon of choice.

The best part (for me, anyway) is that the winners receive a free proof copy courtesy of CreateSpace. You mean in December I can get a real, physical copy of the book I just wrote? Too cool.

So what’s my book about? Well, it’s probably best classified in the teen lit genre and is going to be written as a series of letters from the protagonist to various individuals in her life. Based on my own experiences? You bet. Completely factual? Probably not. But who doesn’t love a good coming-of-age piece?

One of my day zero goals was to “start writing my novel” — looks like I might finish it, too?!