I love November, don't you? Not only is it awesome because the weather is turning, the holidays are coming, but it's also my birthday month. Oh, and a little thing we like to call Nanowrimo.

I'll be honest - I'm a Nano fan. Sometimes I'm just not feeling it, but when you have a book to write and are lacking motivation? Nothing can get your ass moving faster than seeing the word counts that your friends are posting. I'm competitive, too, so I like to try and keep up. I don't mind if I'm not first, but I at least want to stay in the game.

Now here's the thing about Nano. You're going to see a lot of people groaning about Nano, especially people in publishing. But your Nano powers can be used for good, too! Not just evil.

Good = Getting motivated. Writing awesome word count. Plotting on a deadline. Writing 50k in one month on a solid project. FIRST DRAFTING.

Bad = Flinging shit on the page just to make wordcount. Working on a completely lame project. Not realizing that you are writing a first draft and then just querying it to everyone that has an email address.

And okay. I have done the 'write shit just to make wordcount' thing. And you know what? It is a really really bad habit to break if you are trying to improve your craft. It really is. So don't do it. So you write 3k less a day than your buddy. It's a good 3k instead of 3k of "He went to the cabinet. He got some Cheerios. Mmm, Cheerios. He liked Cheerios. They reminded him of Uncle Bob who used to go boating at Lake Tawakoni as a child. Mmm Cheerios." Don't bloat your novel. Seriously. You're not going to be happy with the results.

Also? Pick a project you're passionate about and one that *has* a solid plot. Because that 10k wall comes up a lot sooner than you'd anticipate, and then you're left holding a story that's disintegrating in your hands. And there's nothing worse than having to start over in week 2.

(And I've been there, done that on both)

Anyhoo, here's my word meter.

I'm on Nano as 'irysangel'  (the same as my Livejournal) so you can buddy me if you like. Or not, cause that's cool too (and Nano's site is horrible for tracking any number of buddies over eight). And in case you're wondering what I'm working on?

I'M CHEATING!

That's right. I'm totally cheating. But my deadline for book 3 is coming up ASAP and I'm going to get a head start on it. I already have 10k written in the book, and I need to write another 75k before March 1st. And I have two books coming out between now and then, so yeah. I'm totally cheating. Feel free to laugh and point, but I'm going at it unofficial-like, and I just won't validate at the end of the month. For me, the goal is to get 50k of usable words, and if that means swimming with the Nano fishes, I'm happy to do so.

Anyhoo, for Day 1, I'm happy with my wordcount. How about you guys? How is your wordcount coming? Share!