Hello folks! Hope all of you are safe after the typhoon. After all the storms (literal and metaphorical) we experienced this year, hopefully that's the last one we would face, confronted instead by more "desirable" challenges.

Such a challenge is National Novel Writing Month which is upon us once more this whole month of November. In less than 24 hours, people all over the world will test their literary endurance by trying to write a novel -- or a minimum of 50,000 words within 30 days (that's 1667 words per day.) I myself, have committed to this endeavor, swearing off other distractions, and to at last write my first novel. (I was supposed to join last year, but was sidetracked by another artistic concern -- drafting and filing an MTRCB reorganization bill. But happily, some of us were able to take up the slack and win as NaNoWrimo finishers last year. )

If you want to join me in this adventure, just make a comment below indicating your participation in NaNoWriMo 2009. If you are not yet a member of FilipinoWriter.com, just register at this site FilipinoWriter.com, and then make a comment. Making this a group endeavor will make this challenging task a more fun and achievable goal. 

So here are the steps you need to do to participate:

1. Sign up for an account at the NaNoWriMo web site. 
2. After signing up, and once logged in at the NaNoWriMo web site, you can join your home region -- in this case, Asia::Philippines. Also make sure to set your time zone correctly -- it's under User Settings.
3. Start a blog or blog entry/thread here at FilipinoWriter.com to keep track of your progress. The BlogYoNoMo (Blog Your Novel Month) content types of FilipinoWriter.com have also been enabled if you want to blog your novel here at FilipinoWriter.com. As the writing marathon goes along, armed with these tools, we will encourage one another and keep each other company.
4. For additional support, you can head on out to Pinoywrimos.com (ably headed by the Philippines' NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison Tina/tinamats) and/or their Pinoywrimos twitter account. They also have a Pinoywrimo chatroom, and I believe a 10pm Kick-Off Chat is scheduled for today, October 31.
5. Finally, like I mentioned, post a comment below this entry to indicate your participation in NaNoWriMo 2009 as a FilipinoWriter.com member.
6. If you have any questions regarding NaNoWriMo, please visit the FAQ page of the NaNoWriMo web site.

That's about it! So sharpen your pencils, line up your pens, recharge your laptops -- and let's all produce a novel!

By the way, after and when you have finished your NaNoWriMo 2009 novel, we will next focus and form a FilipinoWriter.com support group on the revision of your novel this December and then finding a publisher in January 2010. Yes, we will make NaNoWriMo 2009 as a means to the ultimate goal -- to publish a book! For now, Happy Writing everyone!