The month of November is National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo. From 11/1 through 11/30, participants are to write to a goal of 50,000 words. The length of an average-to-short novel.  But the event, which is billed as a competition against your own hangups and indecisiveness is also about collaboration if you do it right.

So I am at just over 30,000 words as of the 18th – right on the daily target. All well and good, but honestly I’m having more fun hanging out with the local writing denizens of central Lancaster County than anything else. For someone who sits in his closet-office each morning pressing the keys, it’s just plain fun to be in the company of other folks trying to go from point A to point B in their writing. We meet on Tuesdays at Panera Bread, Thursdays at the new Wegmans (first in the county) and Saturdays at the public library.

I am thankful (Thanksgiving theme cue) for the friends I have made in this business – and it is a business. But my NaNo buddies make November worth it. This is my 2nd NaNo and I expect it to be a November staple going forward. Even better, I hope to keep in touch with the local peeps and encourage each other in our writing journeys.

Do you NaNo?