March is National Novel Editing Month! If you have an unfinished or completed but unpolished manuscript lying around, this is your chance to dust it off and bring it back to life! Consider signing up for NaNoEdMo to get yourself motivated.
NaNoEdMo makes novel editing, usually a laborious task, into something fun and challenging. It is free to sign up and simple to participate. Log 50 hours of editing for the month of March (less than 2 hours a day) and you will receive a certificate of completion–not to mention how much work you will have achieved on your manuscript. Just think: 50 hours of novel editing could very well bring your book to a point where it is finally ready to be sent to an agent or publisher! And what better way to do it than NaNoEdMo, when you can be part of a writing community that is striving to reach the same goal? The site’s forums offer advice and motivation, and each year there are articles and podcasts by published authors. There are even Red Pen Luminaries, people who organize NaNoEdMo events on a regional and local scale. Kick off parties, pep talks, gatherings to work on and discuss your manuscript, wrap up parties–all these and more are possibilities if there is a RPL in your area. NaNoEdMo is all about support and giving you the best tools and opportunity to edit your novel. You can even look at it as a friendly competition to spur you on. You only need 5o hours of editing to receive the certificate, but can you beat last year’s top editor, who logged an astounding 332.77 hours of editing for March 2010?
Even if you fall short of the 50 hour achievement, it’s hard to pass up the opportunity to connect with a community of writers who will encourage and support you with such a wide array of resources. Give NaNoEdMo your best shot!
