Yes, another Nano post. Anyone who surfs the blogosphere (terrible word) with any regularity is now sick to death of these, but I don't care. Nano is on my brain, so that's what I'm writing about.

I have to say, I take umbrage with a number of authors who've joined a not-so-silent resistence against Nano. There's a great deal of snideness going on, and a general theme of "writing 50,000 words is not a novel, we're just going to get a flood of self-published crap". Which to me, translates into "stop telling people anyone can write a novel, only real writers can write novels. Other people should just not try."

Which is taking the whole thing a bit too seriously, in my book. Yes, 50,000 words does not make a novel, and first drafts should never be considered publishable. And yes, some of the people who attempt and even complete nano will not realise this, and will self-publish their brand new unedited novel on createspace or lulu, and feel proud of their achievement. Why is that such a calamity? Their novel does not harm you in any way. Yes, it technically makes more stuff for people to wade through to find your book, but to be honest, if it's that terrible, it's going to wind up at the bottom of the recommendation pile anyway. And it's not like people actually shop for novels by starting at 'Aaron Aardvark' and working their way down.

Others seem to dislike that there's a special time for writing, asking 'what were you doing the rest of the time', and claiming it's an open excuse to only write thirty days of the year. Which is rather like saying marathons are bad for people, because it encourages them to not exercise the rest of the year. Yes, some people will jog-and-walk a marathon and let their gym membership languish, that's their choice. Does it mean they shouldn't run the marathon at all?

What I hear is a lot of grumbling caused by people taking what should be a lighthearted challenge and pretending it's Serious Writing Business.

I say phooie to them. Nano build a great community of people who want to write. Other people's life choices don't hurt you, stop complaining about them. And writers should not feel threatened by other people putting a lot of words on a page.

In my person nano news, I am waaaay behind. By about twelve thousand words. But that's okay. The important thing is:

• Don't give up. The biggest mistake you can make is to look at the numbers and say "I'll never make that up in time". Keep going. There's life after nano - even if you can't make it up in time (and you'd be surprised how quickly writing just a little bit extra will add up - my twelve thousand word lag only needs another 800 words a day), you can - gasp - still keep writing after the thirtieth of November to finish your story. So even if you've only written a few thousand words, keep at it.
• Write every day. Even if it's just a sentence. One sentence. You can make time for a sentence, even if it's scrawled on a napkin. Your brain will only hold something like a story in the background for up to 36 hours. After that, the momentum is lost. You have to sit down and reorient yourself with the story. One sentence a day, and your brain stays in tune with what you're doing, things keep ticking over, and ideas will flow.

I know that was technically two things, but they're both important. And now, I have to write another thousand words.