You Should Try NaNo If... {guest post}

Today my blogger friend Sarah is here to talk about NaNoWriMo, the event which takes over my blog - and several other writers' blogs - for a month each year.

Hey everyone!  Thanks everyone so much for having me on this wonderful blog.  I want to thank Emily especially!  Her blog is one of my favorites in the way it combines life, God, and writing.

If you've been watching (Maybe) Teen Author (which should be renamed Future Teen Author because I'm almost positive Em will be published before she turns twenty) then you know that last month something insane happened.  Something called NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.  A ton of writers from around the world sat down and wrote 50,000 words in 30 days.  If you break that down, it comes out to 1667 words a day.  That's no small sum!

So maybe you've been following some blogs that cross the line from books into writing and you've seen a few of the "I Survived 50K" blog posts.  Maybe a little nagging voice on one shoulder is saying that you should go for it next November.  But then, on the other shoulder, a voice is hissing "No. You're not good enough. You don't know enough about writing. 1667 words is WAY too many to cram into your schedule."  I thought the same thing this time last year when I saw all the "I Won NaNo Posts."  There was no way I could do it.

And then, on November 30, 2012, I did.

So here's my guide.  Should you or should you not attempt NaNoWriMo 2013?

You Should Attempt If . . .

1. You did it last year and got at least half of your word count goal.
2. You've written at least one 50,000 word novel before, no matter how long it took.
3. You really, REALLY want to even though your parents think you're insane.  (This is me.)
4. You have the time.  If you have some extra time every November and think you might want to do NaNo, I say go for it.  At the very least you'll have one word of a novel you didn't have before.

You Shouldn't Attempt If . . . 

1. You want to be a writer but have never written a book.  I think NaNo might just burn you out.  It's hard, and if you don't know what it feels like to write a book, NaNo might make you think it's that insane every time.  And then you might not write again.  Which might make me cry. :)
2. You seriously don't have time.  Family, friends, grades, jobs, eating, and sleeping are still important.  If doing NaNo would be bad for your health because it would take up one of the two hours you have left to sleep, don't try it.

I think that's it.  I'll be lurking in the comments if you have any questions.  Thanks Emily and happy Blogoversary!

Sarah Faulkner is a teen writer and reader in the eastern midwest, USA.  She's one of six kids, and she's currently in high school.  Her favorite things include Francesca Battistelli albums and books by Alex Rider.  You can find her at her blog, Inklined.