Oct. 31, 2008
BIC HOK WAM to you, too!
There is no gadget in the world that can streamline the grind of the writing process. Sure, for most of us it's probably easier to use a computer than a manual typewriter or a pen and pad, but it boils down to this: The process of writing takes time and that's at a premium for all of us these days.

If you want to churn out your novel in one big push, the grandaddy of all short-term writing commitments, NaNoWriMo, starts tomorrow. Participants in NaNoWriMo ("National Novel Writing Month") try to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. It can be just the right push to get that first draft of a novel done. People from all over the world take part in NaNoWriMo; in 2007 there were over 100,000 participants, 15,000 of whom completed their goal of writing a 50,000-word novel. Now, that's a lot of writing in one month.

But there are still ways to get a jump-start that aren't such an enormous undertaking. If accountability and a set date on your calendar will help, Book-in-a-Week is an online group that designates the first full week of every month as a writing week. Prior to that week, members send in their writing goals of so many pages per day or week. Then, during the writing week, members write as much as they can and post their page totals a minimum of three times during that week on the Web site. The group requires a small monthly donation, $3, to participate.

Don't have that kind of time either? How about 10 minutes here or there? Don't know what to write about? We're posting 12 new writing prompts on www.WriterMag.com each month. How about that? We give you a ready-made topic and after a 10-minute writing spree you'll have warmed up and flexed your writing muscles!

And don't forget to take a look at our December issue; a special 7-page section takes a look at various ways to squeeze in more time to write.

OK, for all you writers and wannabe-but-don't-have-time-writers out there, I'm going to repeat Book-in-a-Week's motto: BIC HOK TAM, which stands for "butt-in-chair, hands-on-keyboard, typing-away-madly." Sometimes, there's just no other way to get it done!

--Martha Lundin, editorial associate 

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