As most of the writing world knows, November’s been declared “National Novel Writing Month” – shortened to NaNoWriMo. I heard at a local convention that so many would-be writers take part in this exercise and then (horrors!) ship the slapdash product off to publishers, that many publishing houses just shut down through the entire month of December. I have no idea if that’s true (what good would it do, wouldn’t the dreadful manuscripts just be waiting in January anyway?). But, never mind.
I don’t mean to suggest that NaNoWriMo is a bad thing, just that writers shouldn’t kid themselves about producing single-draft stellar work under those conditions. It’s about learning to devote time to writing, it’s about setting a goal and meeting it. It’s about starting a new routine, or shaking up an old one. And it’s not for everyone, every year. (I did it 2010, but just couldn’t get into the spirit of it last year.)
This year, I’m signing up with the aim of getting 50,000 words done in my next web-novella. It’s going to be science fiction and I’ve got characters and a plot lined up, ready to get started. My goal is to have a novella draft by December, and to have worked on it consistently. Fellow Nano writers can be my buddy – just look up “Ruined Keep Scribe.” Readers, never fear, the novella-in-progress will continue to be posted on its usual schedule.
Kelly Horn 
I’ll go buddy you even though I’m not doing it this year. 🙂
None of the 2 novels I completed during NaNo (I did it 4 years and only “won” in 2 of the years) aren’t anywhere near being in good enough shape to submit…and they may never be. I do know, however, one person (IRL) who has since had her NaNo novel published (Julia Karr’s novel “XVI” in case you’re interested in reading it; it’s a dystopian YA novel), so there are some ppl do write novels that, after many, many edits, are good enough to sell. But for every one of those success stories, I’m guessing there’s several hundred thousands of never-to-see-the-light-of-day again mss. 😉
well, I’m an idiot…apparently you’re already my buddy. Gawd, if this is what I’m like before I’m 50, what will I be like in 2 year when I AM 50…and beyond??