Collective NaNoWriMo: Let's Write Together!
Tags: writing, watercooler, challenge, codenewbie
Published: 2022-11-09 20:41:08

Hello Fellow Tech Bloggers 👋,

It's November! It's time for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!
If you are thinking of writing an article, now is a good time to do it. And let's do it together 😊.

## What Is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)?

For some of you, this might be the first time you have heard about NaNoWriMo. So what is the NaNoWriMo challenge?

> National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel.
— [nanowrimo.org](https://nanowrimo.org/about-nano#nanowrimo)

So, the origin of this challenge is for writers (novelists) to write 50,000 words of a novel for 30 days in November.
Okay. That sounds hard if we don't write novels 😅. So why don't we tweak it to be a collective challenge and share the fun?

## Collective NaNoWriMo

My writing journey started in 2020. I participated in [Virtual Coffee](https://virtualcoffee.io/)'s November monthly challenge about writing. Based on the NaNoWriMo, we wrote together to reach the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days as a community.

Before I participated in the challenge, imposter syndrome tied my hands. There were always things that assured me I would be a terrible writer. I've shared this experience in one of my articles. You can read further about the ups and downs of my writing journey [here](https://adiati.com/i-have-been-writing-a-blog-for-10-months-here-is-my-story).
But writing together with the whole community is one different story. It motivated me to write more and more, and I forgot about the things that held me down. It was super fun!

To give you an insight into how fun writing together is, Virtual Coffee set 50,000 words for last year's goal. Yet, in the end, it [reached 125,392 words](https://virtualcoffee.io/monthlychallenges/nov-2021)!

## Writing Ideas

There might be a time when you have an idea to write, but then you hesitate. "I want to write about X, but there are many articles about it. I don't know if I should write about it."

There are many articles about similar or even the same topics out there. But one piece might talk to someone and not to the others.
How many times have you googled for a topic or a solution and read a bunch of articles, but there is only one (or two) that gives you that a-ha moment?
So there's always an audience out there. All you need to do is start to write and be yourself. Even better, write for your future self 😊!

Then, sometimes, there might also be times when you ask yourselves, "What should I write?"

I learned that the simplest way to gather ideas is to write them down on your note. Whenever you have ideas to write, list them in your note. At one point, when you need help deciding what to write, open your note, and pick one of the topics that you have listed.

There are also some other ways to get some ideas.

- You can ask what people want to know about a particular concept or framework. You can post this as a discussion on blogging platforms such as Hashnode, DEV, or CodeNewbie. Doing this can give you some ideas to write.
- For [this month's writing challenge](https://virtualcoffee.io/monthlychallenges/nov-2022), Virtual Coffee gathered writing ideas to inspire people. You can check them out on the [discussions board on GitHub](https://github.com/Virtual-Coffee/virtualcoffee.io/discussions/711).
  If you have an idea that is not on the list, feel free to add it there 😉.
- A while ago, Hashnode did [4 Articles in 4 Weeks - Hashnode Writeathon](https://townhall.hashnode.com/4-articles-in-4-weeks-hashnode-writeathon). The challenge was to write one article in one week for four weeks. To inspire the community, they gave three topics per week. One or more of these topics might inspire you.

## Keep The Motivation Alive

When you lack motivation, consider taking part in writing challenges to keep your writing motivation alive.

- Check on the challenges on Hashnode, such as [2 Articles 1 Week](https://hashnode.com/challenge/2articles1week), Crazy Blogger, and Word Warrior. When you complete the challenges, you will gain [cute badges](https://adiati.com/badges).
- [DEV](https://dev.to/) also grants you [cool badges](https://dev.to/adiatiayu) when you publish your post for four weeks, eight weeks, etc., in a row.
- You can also challenge yourself to write. For example, you set a goal to write and publish an article with at least 1,000 words in a week for four weeks. Then treat yourself with a small reward when you reach your goal.

## Final Words: Let's Write Together! ✍️

To make writing more fun this month, let's write together and support each other 💪!

Post the link to each article you wrote in November 2022 in the comment below, along with the word count. The goal is for us to write 50,000 words together. I encourage you to engage with the posts and make new friends!
At the beginning of next month, I will count and announce the total number of words in the comment 😀.

**Tip**: Besides checking your post's readability, you can use the [Hemingway Editor](https://hemingwayapp.com/) to count the words.

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Thank you for reading!
Last, you can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/@AdiatiAyu). Let's connect! 😊

📸 Cover image credit: [Patrick Fore](https://unsplash.com/@patrickian4) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/0gkw_9fy0eQ).