The Madness Begins in 3 Days! NaNoWriMo Challenge Instructions

It's time to get serious. This November Madness begins in just three days!

What you need to know if you haven't done NaNoWriMo before

If you've done NaNoWriMo before and remember how it works, just skip on down to the next section. Everyone else, please keep reading.

The official website lets you keep track of your word count and progress. But you first have to give your novel a title. If you haven't done that yet, go and do it now (or make a note for later but do it before November 1st).

Each day you update your total word count by visiting the "Stats" page for your current novel. You don't have copy and paste your writing into the website, just type the numbers you see in whatever editor you're using. After it has the total word count, it will do the math and tell you how many words you wrote each day.

What you need to know for the November Madness Challenge

We have different types of prizes (yes prizes!) available throughout the month. Here's what we have so far:

35 Steem to split between winners (reach 50k words) thanks to generous @mariannewest and @felt.buzz
1 SBI for each winner from @Improv
Upvotes for all participants from the @freewritehouse who post and drop their link under the daily prompt during November (Thanks to increased delegations from @mariannewest and @felt.buzz)
3 SBI shares in weekly prizes. One for highest word count. One for most consecutive days written (random draw if there's more than one). And a random draw for everyone that posted a word count at least one day during the previous week courtesy of @ntowl.
We will do a daily post at the Freewrite House with the prompt (same as the daily prompt) and Novel Writing news, tips, and encouragement. The liquid payout of those posts will be added to the grand prize!

Eligibility for the weekly SBI shares

It's great that the NaNoWriMo website keeps track of your numbers. But because we're hosting the contest here and not there, I'll need your word count too. I have a form set up where you can go enter your word count each day. I'll use that data to determine who gets the SBI shares for the week.

Note that this tracking is entirely optional for any of the other prizes. You're only required to enter the word counts if you want to win the weekly giveaway. But remember, just enter the data for just one day each week and you'll be eligible for the random draw. And it only takes a minute or less.

I'll post a link to the form early on November 1st, and it will be pinned in the NaNoWriMo contest channel in the Discord server.

I'm guessing I don't have to say this, but I am just so everyone knows we're on the up and up. The word counts are obviously done on the honor system. Please make sure you are entering your word count for the day and not the week or more than one day included. If you want to include days you missed there will be a place to enter that info. And just to make sure everyone's playing fair I might check numbers against your NaNoWriMo totals from time to time, randomly, as the mood strikes me. I know they might not match perfectly but they should be pretty darn close.

Also, since I am keeping the data for the weekly challenges, I am not eligible to win any of these weekly prizes.

Any questions? Just ask in the comment and be sure to tag @ntowl.

There's still time to sign up

If you have gone mad enough to join us yet there's still time! Read this post to see how to sign up.

Here is the current list of participants:

@amelin
@botefarm
@felt.buzz
@grow23
@improv
@kaelci
@kaerpediem
@linnyplant
@mariannewest
@ntowl
@stinawog
@carolkean
@byn
@kipswolfe
@bennettitalia
@aislingcronin

I've added everyone to my writing buddy list on the NaNoWriMo website. Feel free to add me back if you haven't already, and add your fellow writers too. Somehow it feels less intimidating with a page full of buddies!

Are you excited? I know I am!

This installment of @freewritehouse was brought to you by @ntowl

NaNoWriMo logo used courtesy of National Novel Writing Month.

Make sure to participate in all the fun events at the Freewrite House

Regular Features

Adopt Me!! - Monday
Recommend your Favorite Freewrite and Win SBI - Tuesday
We-Write and win SBI - Every other Wednesday
Announce the Adoptee
Freewrite Favorites - Thursday
Recommend your Favorite Freewrite Poem - and Win SBI - Tuesday until Saturday
Over 20 Club - Saturday
Poetry Digest - Sunday

Join us at the Isle of Write in the freewriter - retreat

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics