the trick is to keep breathing

Intro
Last January, I tried something I cunningly called "JanNoWriMo" -- since I often fail at NaNoWriMo in November -- during which I intended to "write a lot". It didn't work, partially because I lack organizational skill and partially because I lack motivation. This year, I'm trying to fix both.

The Idea
I want to write something, every day, for the entire month of January. More specifically, my goal is to write at least 500 words every day in January of 2009, which gives me a month-long target over 15,000 words. While I'd like to hit 500 per day, I will be satisfied with a 100-word drabble or even a few sentences on a currently-existing project, if that's all I get. So, for me personally, my goals are the following, ranked by priority!:

1. Write something, every day, in January.


2. Write over 15,000 words total in January.


3. Write at least 500 words a day.

If I can get to #3, that's great. But I'll be satisfied if I only hit #1. These three goals are, in a nutshell, the concept behind JanNoWriMo 2009.

Participation
To my surprise, people expressed interest in doing this crazy thing with me. Hooray for people! Yay! JanNoWriMo = PARTY TIME.

Some people prefer structure when working towards a deadline; I know I do, because it helps me to be specific rather than general. So, I've provided some structure, in the form of steps, because I like lists. PLUS A CALENDAR! Because I am clearly in charge awesome.

Keep in mind, however, that what I've included under the cut isn't a "set of rules": there are no rules. I'm not "in charge" of anything. You can do with your JanNoWriMo whatever you want to, and I'll still be happy that you played along!

( JanNoWriMo 2009 Participation Happy Fun Time )
As a final note on participation, this is open to everyone -- fanfiction, original work, poetry, whatever you'd like, as long as it's "writing" in some form! And feel free to invite others; all of my JanNoWriMo posts will be totally public. Again: not in charge of anything; I'm just the organizer.

Celebration
I haven't yet decided what to promise for February, but there will at least be a wrap-up post of everyone who participated and how many days/words we each actually wrote! Ideally I'd like to have a big spammo link day where I post links to everyone's January work and we all go around and review each other in a big self-insert circle-jerk um just like my fantasies!!!1 and stuff, but some people may not be ready to post WIP stuff, so I'm undecided on that. However, I'll definitely be spreading some recognition and congratulations for everybody. And you know that's what you all want: my undying pantsless love.

Apology...
...to the non-writers on my F-List. There's going to be a lot of flailing and posting about this in January. However, the writing itself will all be over at brokenprism, so at least you won't be exposed to my terrible House/Wilson/Me/Wilson Again fantasies. I mean uh. what? that's a joke. Then again, if you've ever thought about writing, even just as a hobby... why not try it? You're invited, too!

Conclusion
It's already December 29th. Those of us who consider ourselves writers -- don't we all have "write more" as a New Year's Resolution? This is an easy way to keep it. Easy AND fun. Easy and fun, and awesome! Easy, fun, awesome, and totally doable.

Interested?
To keep this semi-official, just drop me a comment if you're planning on doing anything for JanNoWriMo (no matter how small), so I know whose journals I need to stalk! Otherwise, get planning, because January 1st is only a few days away!

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( Sev's Personal Rules For JanNoWriMo 2009, plus Things I Plan To Write )

YES, THIS IS THE OFFICIAL JANNOWRIMO ICON. SHADDUP.

(edit) yeah, now with glitter text >.> BECAUSE WHAT'S A SEV CHALLENGE WITHOUT FUCKING GLITTER TEXT