Nano? No. Jono.

NaNoWriMo is a heck of a thing, and I have loads of admiration for people who do it. For the unhazed, Na(tional)No(vel)Wri(ting)Mo(nth) participants commit to writing a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. That's a thirty-day month, people. With Thanksgiving in it. For most people, the idea is to get it all down without stressing about the details and with the support of other participants, and then revise in December and beyond, presumably with lots of hot cocoa.

Setting a writing goal and meeting it with lots of people's support has appeal even if one doesn't have the speed-typing skills necessary for NaNo. That's the idea behind JoNoWriMo+1.5, a LiveJournal community founded by YA author Jo Knowles. Participants set a goal to meet between September 16 and December 1. The goal can be anything, from "finish my novel" to "write every day" to "figure out what the heck this novel's about." There are four check-in dates and plenty of posts to the community in between.

I've joined once again, and this year, my goal is to get through all the high-level revisions currently on my revision list. Cutting down on my overuse of the word look can wait; turning a flat character into a round one cannot. New concerns will probably arise as I tackle the current ones, but this goal will ensure that I spend lots of time really thinking about and improving my manuscript.

Jooooooooin us. (If you want to.)