It’s mid-October already, which means NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. Literally only 17 days away. For some of us, this means absolute panic, even if we’re generally ‘pantsers’ instead of ‘planners.’

This year, I am comfortable in the knowledge that I am not the only one that starts NaNo off with a bang, but rapidly loses steam and then may simply ‘forget’ that I should be writing and find other things to do like dishes, dusting, vacuuming, laundry, tidying my work space, dusting, watching movies with the girls, work, stuff.

{deep, shuddery breath and a pause for a giggle}

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

I never have been the only one, I just like to play up the effect of the loner-writer-paranoid-hermit. I’ve been one of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps. BUT this is the first year where I’ve found a few groups to cling to rather desperately, and if you’re a ‘pantser’ panicking at the thought of where those 50,000 words are coming from, when you’ll find time, and how you’re going to actually sit your arse in that chair and pound at that keyboard, these groups may help you, as well.

First up, a long-time favorite of mine, Virtual Writers, Inc.

Founded in 2007, Virtual Writers, Inc. furnishes both the professional and beginning writer with opportunities to meet, share resources, learn about jobs, news and new writing markets, and showcase their work in a distinctive way.

They run daily word sprints (#wordscrim and/or #wordsprint, #amwriting) on Twitter – @virtualwriters, which in my time zone (central), occur at 4 PM. AND they’re planning to run weekly 12-hour sprint sessions on Wednesdays, starting October 30th (perfect for a prep-stretch!) and running through-out the month of November. Follow them on Twitter to keep up with news and participate; I’ve listed the start/end times below:

GMT: 12pm – 12am
EST: 7am – 7pm
CST: 6am – 6pm
PST: 4am – 4pm

Next up we have a group of folks running weekly 12-hour sprint sets on Fridays. Friday Night Write Club aka @FriNightWrites, and it is to them I owe a debt of thanks for helping me boost my word count enough over the summer to actually complete some projects, including two Galleys Between novellas (and nearly a third) as well as several short stories and a nice bit of Windygates as well.

#WriteClub is a Twitter hashtag where writers from all over the world come every Friday night (and randomly throughout the week) to join in support and encouragement of each other. We do thirty-minute writing sprints, with 10-15 minute breaks between. Start and stop times are tweeted from the host account, @FriNightWrites. <– go follow!

And yes they get the fight club jokes all the time, and no, they’re not amusing. At least, not anymore. I’ve had to bite my fingernails to keep from spouting a first rule of joke once or twice. Or ten times.

Anyway.

They are running a special hashtag event – #WriteClubNaNo – that will run for 48 hours over the first two days of NaNoWriMo. 48 hours of sprints that start every 40 minutes (30 for writing, 10 for breaks) is (I think, if I’ve done the math correctly) 72 sprints. Times are below:

(NOTE: Th = Oct 31st, Fri = Nov 1st, Sat = Nov 2nd)

NEW ZEALAND: 12am Friday – 10pm Saturday
UK: 1pm Thursday – 11am Saturday
US EAST COAST: 8am Thursday – 6am Saturday
US WEST COAST: 5am Thursday – 3am Saturday
HAWAII: 2am Thursday – 11:59pm Friday

I’ll be there. Will you?

And lastly, but not leastly, a new face on the sprinter scene, Sprint Shack. They’re new, but individually they’re not new to the writing, Twitter or sprinting scenes. The website/blog is packed full of sprinting related information, from groups to hashtags to guest posts; a collection of as much sprinter information as one would want.

We’re a group of writers, Twitter fanatics, and avid word sprinters looking to provide a rest stop for all you sprinting fiends. Sprint Shack is your home for everything related to word sprinting: information on upcoming sprints, motivational posts to keep you writing, countless resources to keep those muscles strong, and even extra goodies such as guest posts!

If you can’t keep your eye on every sprint or sprinting group or hashtag, at least follow @SprintShack. They’re keeping their eyes on everything so you don’t have to, leaving you free to focus on your NaNovel!

Until next week… get prepped!
<3 JL