Do you have trouble making friends and family leave you alone to write? Well, NaNoWriMo is your perfect opportunity to be officially “under deadline.” National Novel Writing Month is November 1-30. I challenge you to sign up at NaNoWriMo.org. You will receive encouraging emails, have an opportunity to find other writers in your region, and be able to set aside time to write 1667 words a day. I’m signed up. Find me and add me as your Writing Buddy: patriciawarren22. It’s the ultimate writers’ social networking group! Here is the email I received from Lindsey Grant at NaNoWriMo this morning:

Dear NaNo-novelist, First of all, high-five for signing up to write a novel during NaNoWriMo. That was a wise choice, my friend. The world needs your novel, and now is the very best time to write it. We’re gonna have a great time doing it, too! To prepare you for the awesomeness ahead, here is a guide to the month: Today: Set your home region. Tomorrow: Set your time zone. This will alleviate massive end-of-event panic (and, potentially, unnecessary computer smashing) when it comes time to validate your novel. October 31: Kiss the dog, unplug your cable box, and email your family and friends to let them know that you’re about to enter the zone. The NaNoWriMo zone. November 1: Watch the first video pep talk on NaNoWriMo.org, and then write your first 1,667 words. You can also update your word count in the box in the top right-hand corner of the website (or, of course, in your Author Profile). November 3: Discover that what you’re writing so far wasn’t necessarily what you were planning to write. Realize that is okay—great, even—and keep writing in anticipation of what will come next. November 4: Receive the first guest pep talk from Mercedes Lackey. November 5: Go into the first weekend of November having written 8,335 words. If you’re not there yet, don’t worry! That’s what weekends are for. Aim for 11,669 words by Sunday night and you’ll be golden. November 8: Get ready for one super-inspirational week! You’ll be receiving three pep talks: one from me and two from guest pep talk authors. The pep talks will continue at this pace throughout the month, and will include words of wisdom from more of your favorite published authors. (If you miss a pep talk email, don’t worry! They’ll be posted on the Pep Talks page throughout the month.) November 11: Admit that you’ve grown attached to your characters and miss them when you’re not writing. November 13: Stop what you’re doing and back up your novel on a flash drive, email it to yourself, burn it onto a CD, or do all three! November 16: Take a moment to celebrate your accomplishments over the first half of NaNoWriMo, and give yourself a big treat before diving back in to writing the second half of your November novel. (Suggested rewards: Eating a cake, napping for 30 minutes, finally taking that shower, or washing your writing uniform!) November 17: Stay tuned for an all-day public-radio-style donations drive for NaNo and the Young Writer’s Program. If we hit our fundraising goals, we have a slew of irresistible offers including, but not limited to, humiliating ourselves on video. November 19: In addition to International Men’s Day, today is also Municipal Liaison (ML) Appreciation Day. (MLs are our volunteer chapter heads.) Be sure to thank your local ML and shower them when possible with coffee, candies, and breakfast cereals. November 21:  Fly (or take an armchair field trip with your mind) to San Francisco for the fourth annual Night of Writing Dangerously, and join 249 of your fellow Wrimos in writing the fastest and most dangerous fiction this side of the San Andreas Fault. November 25: Winning begins! Once you hit that 50,000-word mark, upload your novel and get whisked to the winner’s page for congratulations, downloadable treats, and your extra-spiffy 2010 Winner Certificate. November 26:  If you’re in the US, fix yourself a post-Thanksgiving turkey-cranberry-stuffing sandwich. It’s a little-known fact that this is prime novel-finishing writer fuel. If you’ve already won, no matter where you are, wear your Winner Shirt proudly to show the world, “Hey, I’m a Winner!” November 29: If you are still writing, know that I am too. I have never finished a NaNo-novel before 6 PM on November 30. We can do this! Write, write, write! November 30: At midnight wherever you are, NaNoWriMo will come to an end. You’ll have written the rough draft of a novel and earned the title of author. Make a note to yourself to RSVP to your local “Thank God It’s Over Party” (TGIO) after you wake up from your long and much-deserved slumber. As you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep, smile at the knowledge that you did it. You did it! December 1: RSVP to your local TGIO party and contemplate more sleep. No doubt, you need it. When you awake, the “I Wrote a Novel, Now What?” and “Winner’s Goodies” pages will be live, and you’ll be well-rested enough to think (maybe just a little bit) about what you want to do with your November novel. December 2: Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life as a writer. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how the next 30-plus days will go. In these final hours of pre-noveling prep, hug your loved ones, stock the pantry, and stretch those fingers. We’re about to write! Lindsey NaNoWriMo

See you Monday!! Write On, my Friends!