November is Novel Writing--no, Picture Book Idea, no...

It's November, and I'm caught in the middle! Do I participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), or one of its many spin-offs such as Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo)?? Do I write 50,000 words in a month (in my dreams!) for Nano, or a few thousand for PiBo? Do I want to write for adults, or for children? Do I make flow charts of plots, or sketches of goofy monsters? Or do I simply go with the coolest web badge?

You know how when you walk into some people's houses, you feel like you know who they are? Their personalities, values, and how their minds work? Have you ever had that feeling about computer software?
I certainly have. For years, I've tussled with writing with word-processing programs: scrolling for miles, searching for key points, cutting and pasting sections, bracketing reminder notes to myself, losing or confusing drafts, and scribbling notes on printouts. Other programs had arcane, convoluted, and confusing internal logic with oddly named functions, and constantly crashed.
So, when I stumbled across Scrivener a few years ago, it felt like putting on an old glove. Developed by a writer for writers, it captures all of the various tasks that a writer does in creating a work, long or short, straightforward or complex. Not functions jerry-rigged and patched into a program, but rather organically grown out of actual writers' needs, and structured in ways that are sensible to a writer. Where do I file this research note, this website reference, this character trait, this audio interview? Can I subdivide this chapter? Can I meld three scenes together from different chapters? Can I jump from section to section? What reference styling will I need for my notes? Can I automate screenplay styling? Comic books? Novels? Theses? Can I label and color-code and make index cards and customize output?
Scrivener does this and more.
I write about Scrivener not so much as an advertisement for it, but because for many people, it will feel like a lifesaver, and it should serve as a model for software designers. It is insanely cheap, and the user forums (on which the designer participates) are informative, civil, and helpful. A real community has been created that has endured even as the software has matured and become a real company. The new manual and tutorials are thorough. The popularity of this program among writers has been such that people have switched from PC to Mac in order to use it. However, the developers have surprised everyone and in addition to their new Mac release (Scrivener 2.0) they've come out with a Windows version.
Scrivener deserves high accolades.
Not bad for an old glove.

What is NaNoWriMo and Why Did I Do It?

Here's the challenge: write, in the month of November, a novel of 50,000 words length. Thirty days. That is the simple goal of National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. Run by a somewhat ad hoc nonprofit organization, the now-annual event attracted over 90,000 of writers from every corner of the world, including a couple of thousand hardy Minnesotans. The idea is to "just sit down and write" without worrying about perfecting your work, without fussing, and without procrastination. After the month is over, then you can rewrite, revise, edit, restructure. Schoolteachers have had great success using NaNoWriMo to stimulate student interest in writing.

Why did I try NaNoWriMo? I was up for a new challenge, and wanted to try writing in a different manner than usual. Last year, I lasted all of ten minutes. This year, I was ready for it, and wrote steadily for the whole month, reaching what I thought was a very reasonable amount of 30,000 words (bear in mind that 1000–2000 words a day is for many writers an average daily output, and that most novels are actually going to be 65,000 words or more).

I prepared well for the month-long adventure. I thought through the structure for the new novel, which is a follow-up to DEATH BY THE DEPOT (the manuscript of which, almost complete, was ready for a month of fermentation).I stocked up on food, took care of winterizing chores, and warned people what I was up to just in case I got a glazed look in my eye. I filled my fountain pen, sharpened some pencils, and assembled a stack of color-coordinated scrap paper. I did some test runs with my new novel-writing software (the very wonderful Scrivener for Mac). I then opened the door for the novel's newly minted dozen-or-so characters to come in and start taking shape.

The result? A good solid start for me on a novel that has been lurking in the back of my mind for a couple of years; some new work methods for my repertoire. Some new writing buddies (the Twin Cities had just shy of 1600 people signed up, who produced 13,059,537 words, and placed 3rd internationally in number of words written, just behind Seattle and "Maryland"). Mostly, though, I had fun.

What's next? Now it's this novel's turn to ferment for a spell while I take care of other matters including DEPOT, and begin to dream up a story for next year's NaNoWriMo.