Write Nonfiction in November

All month you’ve been marking the days off on the calendar, and since last night or early this morning you’ve been watching the clock knowing your deadline was fast approaching. The Write Nonfiction in November challenge was coming to an end. Indeed, at midnight tonight, you must make the last changes to your WNFiN project for 2009, and say, “Finished.” You must complete your project and meet your deadline.

In fact, unlike National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), to participate in WNFiN you don’t actually have to turn your project in for a word count. Nor will I be checking to see if you have actually submitted it. No editor, agent or publisher is waiting to find it in their email in-box by midnight either. The WNFiN deadline represents a self-imposed one. Yet, it’s a useful one all the same.

Deadlines, self-imposed or otherwise, provide writers with great incentives to complete their work. Without deadlines, it’s easy to simply muddle along producing only a little bit of writing here and there but never finishing a project. Without a deadline, you also could continue writing, editing or generally fiddling with your project forever, never getting it to a point where you deem it “finished.”

As a journalist, I have a love/hate relationship with deadlines. I dread them as they approach, but they force me to get my work done. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and deadlines make me stop and turn my work in. They allow me to go on to the next project, even if I think I could continue working on the last one and improve upon it. They make me a productive writer.

When it comes to my own books, articles and essays, if I’m not feeling inspired to write, a self-imposed deadline helps. If I attach it to something that feels more concrete — like having to tell my writers’ group if I met my goal in terms of time line — I tend to follow through more often. Thus, if you, like me, work alone and don’t have an editor or publisher actually waiting for your work, having an “accountability partner” helps gives you the incentive to meet your self-imposed deadlines.

So, while deadlines may not feel like positive things, they actually constitute gifts. Therefore, I’d like to encourage you to give yourself the gift this holiday season — and all year long — of self-imposed writing deadlines. I suggest that each month you have a goal of finishing some writing project or at least some phase of a writing project. Maybe you complete one section of your book proposals, write two chapters of your book, finish three interviews for an article, or write the first draft for an e-book. You also can have a deadline a week rather than a deadline each month, or you can chunk it down further to a daily deadline, such as writing 500 words or one blog post per day. This will keep you moving towards your writing goals without the need for the WNFiN challenge or any other contest.

Here are a few tips for working with writing deadlines:

1. Chunk tasks down so you have smaller deadlines within your larger deadline.
2. Use a calendar to keep track of your progress.
3. If you have a word count to meet, figure out how many words you must write per day.
4. Set up interviews early in the deadline period; email or call interviewees and let them know specifically your deadline–then give them their deadline, so they know that if they don’t meet their deadline they affect your deadline.
5. Finish your piece of writing at least two days prior to the deadline to allow time to edit; this gives you ample time to get “distance” from the piece for a few hours or a day between editing phases. It also allows time to get additional or missing  information for articles.
6. Re-evaluate your progress half way through the deadline period, so you can make adjustments to how you are handling the project. Assess if you must speed up your work schedule.
7. As soon as you compete one deadline, begin work on the next. If you have more than one writing deadline at any given time, divvy up your day to work on each project for a certain number or hours per day. Evaluate where you are on each project at the end of each day to assess if you are  moving towards each deadline at an appropriate speed. You might need to table one project for a day to catch up on another. You also can work on one project per day, if you find that easier.
8. If you get behind, take a day (or a weekend) to catch up.
9. Try, if possible to get ahead and finish early. This allows you to turn in work early to editors (who really appreciate this).
10. Don’t ever miss a publication deadline (at least not if you want to write for that publication again).

Whatever type of deadline you choose to use, don’t let the end of November slow your writing pace. That’s the point of this post. Now that you’ve geared up, don’t shift into a lower gear. Use deadlines to help you accomplish your writing goals.

I know December can prove busy with holiday shopping and parties and too much egg nog, but give yourself some deadlines anyway…or at least one. And then give your self other deadlines for the New Year. If you didn’t finish your WNFiN project, give yourself a deadline for doing so. It’s easy to have December 1 show up and just walk away from your WNFiN project and never look back–never edit it, never send it out to an editor or publisher, or never start a new nonfiction writing project. Don’t let that happen. Pick a new nonfiction writing project today and give yourself another deadline. (How about December 31st?)

I hope you’ve enjoyed using Write Nonfiction in November as a writing challenge and  found the blog posts inspiring and educational. Please let me know what you enjoyed most or found most useful and what you would like to read more of next year. To do so, leave a comment here, join the social networking/chat site and comment there or email me at cpywrtcom@aol.com.

Also, if you did find the blog series informational and useful, please help other nonfiction writers discover it by voting WNFiN one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Internet Sites for Writers. You can do so by clicking here and following the instructions.

Also, don’t forget that you can still sign up for my free newsletter at www.copywrightcommunications.com today and receive a free gift, which will arrive in about a week…I’m still creating it specially for you!

To all my guest bloggers, readers and challenge takers, thanks so much for being a part of WNFiN 2009! Check back here each month for more great blog posts! The challenge ends today, but the blog continues all year long.

Good luck with all your nonfiction writing endeavors.

About the Author

Nina Amir is a seasoned journalist, nonfiction editor, author, consultant, and writing coach with more than 30 years of experience in the publishing field. She has edited or written for 45+ local, national and international magazines, newspapers, e-zines, and newsletters on a full-time or freelance basis. Her essays have been published in five anthologies and can be found in numerous e-zines and Internet article directories. An award-winning journalist, she also has a proven track record as a book editor; one of her client’s books was self-published and then purchased and re-released verbatim by Simon & Schuster (Fireside) and another won the 1998 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Award (Inspirational category), received a contract from William Morrow but remained self-published and went on to sell over 115,000 copies. Another of her client’s books recently was purchased by O-Books, a fast-growing British publisher.

Nina also is an inspirational speaker, spiritual and conscious creation coach, teacher, and the regular holiday and spirituality expert on Conversations with Mrs. Claus, a weekly podcast heard in more than 90 countries and downloaded by 110,000 listeners per month (www.thefamilyyak.com). Through her writing and speaking, Amir offers human potential, personal growth and practical spiritual tools from a Jewish perspective, although her work spans religious lines and is pertinent to people of all faiths and spiritual traditions.

Additionally, Amir has written and self-published several booklets and workbooks, including:

• Using the Internet to Build Your Platform One Article at a Time, 8 Tips for Getting Publicity, Exposure and Expert Status by Providing Free Copy Online
• The Priestess Practice: 4 Steps to Creating Sacred Space and Inviting the Divine to Dwell Within It
• The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation: How to Mystically Manifesting Your Physical and Spiritual Desires
• From Empty Practice to Meaning-Full and Spirit-Full Prayers and Rituals…in Seven Simple Steps
• Navigating the Narrow Bridge: 7 Steps for Moving Forward Courageously Even When Life Seems Most Precarious

Currently Amir is writing four books; she also compiled a Jewish celebrity cookbook for which she is seeking a publisher.

To learn how to use the Internet to build your platform one article at a time, why every author needs a platform or how to enhance your expert status by posting articles online, go to:
http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/Teleseminars.htmlorhttp://www.copywrightcommunications.com/Products.html

Nina Amir
CopyWright Communications
cpywrtcom@aol.com

www.copywrightcommunications.com
www.purespiritcreations.com

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Help writers find the wonderful information and resources at Write Nonfiction in November all year:
Vote  WNFIN One of Writer’s Digest’s Annual 101 Best Internet Sites for Writers

Today is October 31^st, but I’m not writing this post to wish you a Happy Halloween. I’m writing it to remind you that it’s almost time…to for the beginning of the third annual Write Nonfiction in November (WNFiN) challenge! If putting on a costume and eating candy helps you write, so be it. If hoarding your candy from tonight’s trick or treating escapades allows you to tempt yourself with rewards for an hour or two of writing each day for the next month, go on out fill that pillow case or bag to the brim with goodies! No matter what your technique to get your self to write each day, just be ready to start tomorrow morning bright and early—and to keep going all month long.

Most people realize that November ushers in the end of Daylight Savings Time, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, but it also welcomes in WNFIN, a unique writing challenge. Unlike its counterpart, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which also takes place in November and requires fiction writers to complete 50,000 words in 30 days to “win,” WNFiN involves no contest. None of the writers are required to submit their work for a word count. Indeed, WNFiN simply poses a personal challenge to every nonfiction writer: start and finish a work of non-fiction over the course of 30 days. You can write an article, a booklet, a newsletter, an e-book, a book proposal, a query letter, or a book.

And while you write, you learn. The largest part of the WNFiN experience involves a 30-day blog hosted by none other than…well…me (Nina Amir), the founder of the challenge. While I wrote every post the first year, last year I invited guest bloggers to join me. This year, I will again be joined by expert guest bloggers – 28 of them! So, you will learn about editing, writing, forms of nonfiction writing, the business of nonfiction writing, publishing, and much, much more. Plus, this year not only can post your comments about the blogs, you also can participate in a writers’ forum available via the blog website itself (look in links).

If you’re wondering why I started this challenge, I’ll reiterate what I said last year. Two years ago I entered NaNoWriMo and “won.” (That novel remains unpublished, although I won the San Francisco pitch contest in 2008 using a pitch for it…) I realized that, while I enjoy fiction writing, I am a nonfiction writer by training and profession. Thus, I wanted a nonfiction challenge to keep me busy in November while the fiction writers were “doing their thing.” For that reason, I started WNFiN. And here we are three years later. Last year, I also placed my posts in my blog at RedRoom.com, and the blog was featured in RedRoom.com’s “Best Blog” series for 12 days! NaNoWriMo has some “rebels” who write nonfiction and have their words counted; they easily can join the WNFiN challenge instead and be with others “of their kind” if they so choose. We aren’t rebels. We are just doing “our thing.”

If you want to know who I am, you can check out the “About Nina Amir” page. Basically, I’m a journalist, writing coach, freelance non-fiction editor, and author has written several booklets, hundreds of articles and six anthology essays. I’m currently working on several books while promoting them and myself via my writing, blogging, websites, and podcasts. You can learn more about me by visiting either of my websites: www.copywrightcommunications.com or www.purespiritcreations.com.

With all that said, my main point remains: The challenge begins tomorrow. Are you ready? If so, great! If not, it’s time to think about what you want to write about, what project you want to start and complete, what time of the day you’ll set aside for the WNFiN challenge each day, and how you’ll organize your project or what tools or research you need to complete it. Then, get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we begin.

If you wondering why you should bother taking the challenge, here’s my answer to your query: WNFiN provides a chance to accomplish one of your personal writing goals. Every writer has personal writing goals they’d like to meet but don’t. Every writer has a project they want to begin but haven’t—or have begun but not finished. Every writer benefits from a deadline. WNFiN offers nonfiction writers an opportunity to start and finish (or simply finish) a project with the pressure of a deadline. It’s a chance to say, “This time, I really will do it.” That’s how I finished that novel during NaNoWriMo. I figured out how many words I had to write each day, and I met my deadline each day. By the end of the month, I’d completed 50,000 words. WNFiN is no different really. Just break your project down into 30 day pieces and knock them out. By the time 30 days has passed, you’ll have finished your project. You’ll have accomplished a personal writing goal.

I’ll say it again…Take the challenge! Tomorrow begin that nonfiction writing project you’ve being dreaming of starting—and finish it in 30 days. Join me during Write Nonfiction in November.

November revolves around writing, and, like the Thanksgiving holiday celebrated during this month, that’s something for which to be grateful.

First, it was named National Novel Writing Month by Chris Baty, who began in 1999 with 21 San Francisco Bay Area friends writing a novel in 30 days. Of the 21, six of them succeeded that month in completing a novel, which they defined as 50,000 words—the length of The Great Gatsby. The following year, 140 people participated, and it’s grown exponentially each year since. Today, over 100,000 people take up Baty’s vision each year in November.

Then came PicoWriMo. Its origins are sketchy, seeming to come from a random post in a blog calling for a less ambitious undertaking for writers. Its rules entail writing a minimum of one word every day for a month. By the end of 30 days, the writer has a free-verse poem or a very short story.

Then, in 2007, I began Write Nonfiction in November, a challenge to all those not wanting to write fiction at all to start and complete a nonfiction project in 30 days. I required no exact word count, just a completed project of some sort – an article, a book, an ebook, a book proposal, a query letter, an essay, etc. Unlike National Novel Writing Month, Write Nonfiction in November revolves around a daily blog written by myself and guest bloggers. The first year, I offered a “brain dump” of much of what I knew about nonfiction writing, editing and publishing. Last year, I asked guest bloggers to add their expertise to the 30-day-long blog; this year the blog again will be written almost primarily by expert guest bloggers. Up until now Write Nonfiction in November offered no forum for participants, but this year one has been added. So, participants can not only comment on blog posts but also chat with each other. However, there remains no counter to check how many words participants are writing – nor will there ever be one. This remains a personal challenge simply to start and finish a work of nonfiction.

With so much writing going on in November, I feel the time has come for someone to declare November “National Writing Month” So, I’m doing just that. It doesn’t matter what we are writing – fiction or nonfiction. It just matters that so many writers are all writing during a focused period of time, and someone should honor that fact. November should be ‘National Writing Month. So, I declare it as such.

How many writers write nonfiction during November each year is anyone’s guess. NaNoWriMo has a forums section that has a NaNo Rebel area including a nonfiction contingent that writes nonfiction. People read the Write Nonfiction in November blog both at its www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com location and on www.RedRoom.com, but I don’t ask anyone to log in or sign up. Some writers involved in PicoWrimo, a challenge that takes place on www.livejournal.com, also write nonfiction.

What I do know is that November gets writers writing. That’s the point. Initially, NaNoWriMo got fiction writers writing. I wanted to get nonfiction writers writing as well. Now that National Novel Writing Month, PicoWriMo and Write Nonfiction in November have been established, it just seems to make sense that we should declare November National Writing Month and let the writing go on officially.

By the way, other writing related events—both official and unofficial—that I’ve found include:

• National Card and Letter Writing Month (April and May)

• National Sketch Writing Month (September)

• National Travel Writer’s Month (August)

• National Poetry Month – NaPoWriMo (April)

Don’t forget to check back in on November 1st for the beginning of the Write Nonfiction in November challenge!

October is half over…That means it’s almost November. Time, once again, for Write Nonfiction in November! Whoo hoo!

I didn’t manage to post a blog last month. I was too busy setting up some really great guest bloggers for this year’s challenge. You’ll be so pleased with the line up!

And, to get things rolling, tomorrow you can listen to me talk about Write Nonfiction in November on The National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) teleseminar. If you recall, last year one of my guest bloggers was Linda Joy Meyers, founder of NAMW.  Meyers and I will be chatting about Write Nonfiction in November, my response to National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). For anyone new to this site, Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) is a contest that has fiction writers writing 50,000 words in 30 days during November. My blog challenges nonfiction writers to spend the month of November writing and completing a work of nonfiction. While they do so, the blog itself provides nonfiction writing, promotion and marketing information to help them sell themselves and their writing to publishing companies and readers. Additionally, via the blog comments, Write Nonfiction in November provides a forum for nonfiction writers to comment on their writing experiences during November each year.

During the NAWM teleseminar, I will discuss different types of nonfiction, including:

• journalistic articles
• personal essays
• inspirational essays
• booklets
• books

If time allows, I’ll also discuss:

• the difference between personal essay and memoir
• platform building on the Internet
• how to use your nonfiction skills to write articles to generate publicity for yourself as a writer
• how the business of writing can be a spiritual endeavor

NAWM  invites memoir writers from all over the world to connect, learn, and become inspired about writing their stories. The goal of our organization is to help memoir writers feel empowered with purpose and energy to begin and develop their life stories into a publishable memoir, whether in essay form, a book, a family legacy, or to create a blog.

Many memoir writers want to use writing as means for healing and transformation, so we assist in this goal by offering workshops, teleseminars, and interviews with writers and experts in the area of memoir, writing skills, therapeutic writing, spiritual autobiography, and healing through writing personal, authentic stories.

Myers, President of NAMW, has been a therapist for 30 years, and is the author of three books, a prize-winning memoir Don’t Call Me Mother, about three generations of mothers who abandoned their daughters, and two books on the ways that writing helps to heal emotionally and physically. Her new book The Power of Memoir—How to Write Your Healing Story will be released in January, 2010, through Jossey Bass publishers in San Francisco. She teaches writing workshops nationally, online, and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Those who join NAMW receive a unique package of memoir writing resources including the NAMW welcome kit and a collection of online and hard copy resources to help memoir writers within all phases of the exciting journey of memoir writing.  Members also receive discounts on select NAMW teleseminars, workshops, retreats and other learning opportunities and materials.

To learn more about NAMW, contact info@namw.org or visit http://www.namw.org

Now…you do have to be a NAWM member to listen in on the teleseminar tomorrow. But if you are a memoir writer–or want to become one–this is a great time to go ahead a join this great group of writers.  So, hurry up and join and call in by 11 a.m. PST!

Here are the details:

Date: October 16, 2009
Guest Speaker: Nina Amir
Times: 11 am Pacific | 12 noon Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern
Cost: Free for NAMW Members
Become A Member of NAMW Today to take part in this teleseminar!
To join: info@namw.org or http://www.namw.org

Yesterday someone asked me if they could post a blog about what they plan to write about this year during Write Nonfiction in November. I said, “Sure!” Let’s build some excitement and get people thinking about their ideas. I sent her off to compose her blog.  I want to extend the invitation to other readers out there eagerly waiting to get started with Write Nonfiction in November. If you can send me a short blog post on why you want to do Write Nonfiction in November and what you plan to write about before November 1 (which means in the next 30 hours or so if you are on PST), I’ll post it here tomorrow (Friday, October 31).

I have to confess, I’m not sure what I’m writing this year. Last year my goals was to write my booklet, The Priestess Practice, and that’s what I did. I was going to write another booklet this year – one I’ve been meaning to write for about 4 years now – that seems timely about how to move through fear. I know I could finish that in 30 days. However, then I thought maybe I should work on the full length version of my booklet The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, which I’m trying to sell. (I have a new agent who has just agreed to read the proposal; I have decided not to use my old agent for this project.) I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish that project if I take it on, though. And then I’ll fail my own challenge. So, I’m still deciding.

By the way, I discovered today that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has some rebels! (I had to get a new password – forgot mine – and sign in to check it out for myself.) Yes, NaNo Rebels, and they are writing nonfiction. I’ve let them know about what we are doing here, and I hope they join us. Another group calls themselves NaNo Nonfiction. I’ve let them know a nonfiction challenge exists as well. If they want to write 50,000 words and let the NaNoWriMo counter count it for them, more power to them.

Now that I’m logged in there, who know, I might use the counter, too, just for kicks. And I’ll surely post something in the forums again to send some people this way. I might even hold a write-in or two. So, if you are in the Bay Area (Northern CA), keep your eyes peeled for notifications. And, if any of you Nano Rebels or Nano Nonfiction people are reading this, “Welcome! Glad to have you aboard!

My email box has been filling up with notices about the annual start of National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org).  However, in general, I write nonfiction. If you, like me, consider yourself a nonfiction writer, don’t sit around for the next 30 days twiddling your thumbs and wishing you had a cool contest to enter this month. Instead, join me in starting and finishing a work of nonfiction during November. That’s right, take part in the Write Nonfiction in November (www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/) challenge. It happens right here in less than a week.

So, in just about six days, instead of writing 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days, commit to writing an article, a booklet, a newsletter, or a book in the same amount of time. Whatever non-fiction writing project you’ve been putting off, get started now. You can even start a blog and blog for 30 days. It doesn’t matter what you write. Just start and finish a nonfiction project of your choice.

No one will be looking over your shoulder. Write Nonfiction in November does not constitute a contest, and I won’t be handing out a prize at the end of the month. Your award comes in the form of the great feeling you will get from knowing you completed your “assignment.” No one will be counting your words, nor does anyone care how many words you write (not even me). You simply are challenged to write — and to not write alone. I’ll be writing every day, too, and hopefully some other people will be writing as well.

Write Nonfiction in November also constitutes a blog. I invite everyone who is writing non-fiction during November and wants to share their experience to go to www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com/ and post comments. (You can also access it from my web site at www.copywrightcommunications.com.) I’ll be posting blogs every few days about nonfiction writing in general – why I enjoy it, tips on getting published, how my writing is going, etc.

While last year I blogged alone, this year my Write Nonfiction in November blog will offer readers and writers something new and exciting: guest blogs from experts from many areas of writing and publishing. So far the following experts will be blogging with me: 

·         agent and consultant Philippa Burgess of Creative Convergence

·         Mitch Davis (Yearbook of Experts/www.expertclick.com)

·         author Ron Arons (The Jews of Sing Sing)

·         agent and author Mike Larsen (How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent),

·         agent and author Katharine Sands (Making the Perfect Pitch)

·         Internet and website guru Linda Lee (Smart Women, Stupid Computers)

·         Randy Peyser (Author One Stop)

·         Annie Jennings (Annie Jennings PR)

·         executive magazine editor and publisher Seth Mendelson (McFadden Publications)

I’m still working on getting a few more people to agree to post a blog.  I’d like to have at least 15 out of the 30 blogs written by someone other than me this year, so readers can benefit from someone else’s experience and expertise other than mine. Hopefully, that will make Write Nonfiction in November a resource for nonfiction writers not only in November but all year long.

Nonfiction writing offers many benefits and challenges. I love nonfiction writing, because it allows me to explore subjects that are interesting to me and to then share them with others. As a magazine journalist and book author who likes to wrestle with issues in my life or subjects that excite me, I get to spend my days researching those very same issues and subjects, speaking to experts about them, finding answers and solutions to them, and coming up with ideas and theories related to them. Then, I get to craft what I’ve learned into a story – an article, essay or book – that offers what I’ve learned and discovered – and possibly even put to use successfully in my life – into a form that others can read. This then hopefully helps or excites them.

However, the world of nonfiction publishing has changed dramatically over the last few years. It’s getting harder and harder to get a nonfiction book published if you don’t have what they call a “platform.” Magazines and newspapers are discontinuing publication left and right. Self-publishing choices are becoming slimmer rather than broader. Book promotion and sales has become the job of the author not the publisher. For all these reasons, nonfiction writers need to stay educated about the new tools of their trade, such as the Internet and all it has to offer. The nonfiction writer has to wear many hats and has to wear them well to become successful.

Yesterday was the first day of November, and if you’re a writer — especially if you are a fiction writer — you should know what that means. It means it was time to start writing your novel!

November marks the annual start of National Novel Writing Month, affectionately called NANOWRIMO (www.nanowrimo.org). I am proud to say that in 2005 I was one of many winners of this 30-day contest. Winning simply requires that you turn in (and have counted) a 50,000-word (175-page) novel by midnight on November 30. The novel doesn’t have to be any good. In fact, the contest is all about quantity not quality, the idea being that you should shut your inner critic away in a closet in your mind for 30 days and simply write something — anything. The goal is to start and to finish a novel — or at least to get started.

I bet you are wondering what happened to that novel of mine, right? Well, I pitched it to several agents at the San Francisco Writers Conference in 2005 and had them all interested, but they all turned it down. I even won the fiction pitch contest with my 25-word description of the book! However, I was told by the agent who would later take me on as a client, Elizabeth Pomada, to leave my fiction writing behind and focus on what I do best — nonfiction. (I took her advice.) She didn’t say that I should have focused more on quality and less on quantity (although she did say the novel was too long — by the time I’d edited and revised it was closer to 65,000 words), but she said it needed editorial help. In other words, the plot was fine, but I needed a good fiction editor. I happen to be a good nonfiction editor, but that wasn’t helping me in the fiction department.

Which brings me to the point of blog. For those of us who don’t write fiction (ever, often or anymore…), what are we supposed to do during the month of November? Well, I say, “WE WRITE NONFICTION!”

I challenge you to join me in starting and finishing (if possible) a work of nonfiction during the next 30 days. You can write an article, a booklet, a newsletter, or a book. Just write something. Whatever nonfiction writing project you’ve been putting off, get started now — today — November 2nd. (Sorry for the short notice; I only just thought of the idea!)

No one will be looking over your shoulder. This is not a contest, and there’s no prize at the end other than the great feeling you will get from knowing you wrote every day and completed your “assignment.” No on is counting your words, nor does anyone care how many words you write (not even me). This is not a contest. It’s simply a challenge to write — and to not write alone. I’ll be writing every day, too, and hopefully some other people will be writing as well.

Plus, this blog will give you a forum to comment and to share your experiences. I’ll try to check the comments every day or two – when I’m not too busy writing – and to moderate a bit. I’ll run the blog for a month and see what happens.

So, without further ado, I’m off to write, and I hope you are, too. (This isn’t a poetry challenge is it?)

Happy writing!

Nina

P.S. If you want to find out more about me as a writer and editor, you can visit my web site (http://www.purespiritcreations.com/) and then click on the link that says “CopyWright services.” It will take you to my company, CopyWright Communications. (You can also get there by going to http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/.) There you will find my published booklets, article samples, newsreleases, services, and much more. Have fun exploring!