Once again, I’ll be spending November writing a 50,000 word novel.  As of this writing, there are currently over 1,000 (1,080) participants from Pittsburgh.  Right now, five of us are busily writing at Panera Bread in Wilkins, and write-ins are happening all the time, all over the city.

Join in if you want, or watch as we attempt to beat both Sacramento and Philadelphia in a word-war that will be going on all month.

In the meantime, I’ll be back later tonight and all this week with Waffle Shop Week.  The good folks from CMU went a bit crazy with the uploads, and there’s all kinds of syrup-ey goodness to share.  And I’ll be back on Tuesday with another installment of PATransit Tuesday.  I’ll be chronicling some Christmas Creep, and later in the month, geeking out to Star Wars in Concert.

Enjoy the beautiful day everybody, catch you later!

No, I’m not leaving metblogs, just writing about a fun event that comes around every year.  November is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.  This crazy event challenges amateur (and professional) writers around the world to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  The goal is quantity over quality: understanding you’re going to write crap, but for once, actually sitting down, undertaking a massive creative feat, and turning off your inner editor for a month of twists and turns through the story coming from your mind.

In total, the authors writing in Pittsburgh wrote over seven million words (7, 391,876 to be exact), placing it in 33rd out of over 400 regions.  That is a crazy number.  50,000 words is around 80 pages (single spaced in Word), I can’t even imagine seven million.

So now, after all the write-ins taking place Downtown and in Cranberry, Oakland and Monroeville, a kick-off party at the Waterfront and a Thank God It’s Over party at  Spaghetti Warehouse, the writers (including myself) find themselves with no pressing deadline, no excuse to consume mass amounts of caffeine and alienate themselves from friends and family (well, except the usual excuses).  And it is a strange feeling.  But it is nice to relax, and remember that there are other things to do besides write each day.  And in the meantime, until next November, I can breathe a little easier, as I wait for midnight on November 1 when I can start the mad dash towards 50,000 once again.

Want to read more about NaNoWriMo, or their sister project, Script Frenzy, check it out at the links.  And come November, join us!  It’s fun, free, and a great way to meet some really awesome people from around Pittsburgh.