NaNoWriMo: A Bookseller Weighs In

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Today's NaNoWriMo guest post is by Ryan Elizabeth Foley (NaNoWriMo handle: momerathsoutgrabe), Bookseller at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, NH

Come Write In at Gibson's Bookstore!
November is one of the most amazing, most creative, most challenging, and most stressful months of the year for writers around the globe. Why? NaNoWriMo.
National Novel Writing Month is a whirlwind, feet-first leap into the adventures of creative writing. Starting on November 1st, participants begin working towards their goal of creating a 50,000 word novel by 11:59pm on November 30th. Yes, you read that correctly: 50,000 words in just 30 days. That's the goal, anyway. Write about 1667 words every day for a month and by the end, you've got a novel! It's the perfect way for aspiring authors to bite the bullet and produce that first draft that's been niggling the back of their mind for years. The novels are not posted online, so quality isn't really a factor. NaNoWriMo is a motivational tool to get people writing every day.  You can read more about the rundown here <http://nanowrimo.org/about>.
This is my third year participating in NaNoWriMo and will be the second year that Gibson's Bookstore will host a weekly "Come Write In" for NaNoWriMo participants (also known as Wrimos). Every Saturday afternoon in November, starting at 12pm, Wrimos are welcome to set up shop in our store and work on their novels. Some people use this opportunity to break ahead of their word count goal in case they miss a day or two of writing, while others desperately attempt to catch up. See, clacking out 1,667 words in a day isn't too bad. Some days it's certainly harder than others. But missing a day and suddenly needing to come up with 3,333 words is a lot harder. And it only gets more difficult the further you fall behind. One of the best pieces of advice I can give to my fellow Wrimos is to write every single day, and go above and beyond the word count goals at the beginning of the month while your motivation and excitement is fresh and your creativity is flowing. That way if you do fall behind, you'll still be ahead of where you need to be in order to complete your novel by the end of the month. Oh, and you're not going to want to write over Thanksgiving, so bulk up your word count as much as possible before then so you can take a break without feeling guilty.
The best thing about "Come Write Ins" is that they are a great way for Wrimos to get out of their normal writing space and meet up with fellow writers and participants. I find that attending CWIs often sparks inspiration and motivation that may have been lacking at home. It's helpful to get out of your normal writing space for a change of scenery.  I encourage everyone participating in NaNoWriMo to attend CWIs and embrace the NaNoWriMo community while penning their 50,000 word novel this November!