Our Goals (and Yours!) for AcWriMo and NaNoWriMo

In the academic community, many celebrate November as Academic Writing Month, commonly referred to as AcWriMo. AcWriMo was inspired by the longer-running National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and is all about dedicating time and energy to your academic writing with set goals that you share and celebrate with other writers and supporters. According to the PhD2Published announcement, AcWriMo has six rules for participating:

1. Decide on your goal.
2. Declare it!
3. Draft a strategy.
4. Discuss your progress.
5. Don't slack off.
6. Declare your results.

image (c) PhD2Published.com

In the spirit of the write-a-thon, the Writing Center instructors and editors are declaring their goals and writing advice:

Amber: I'm not doing AcWriMo or NaNoWriMo this year, but I learned some useful writing strategies during my NaNoWriMo experience 2 years ago.

Anne: This is my first time taking part in AcWriMo. I've been working on an article around the WriteCast podcast, and my goal is to finish that draft.

Hillary: I sat down at my computer last night to get started on NaNoWriMo. I currently remain at 0 words. Last year I got to 25,000 (halfway to officially completing NaNoWriMo), so I would love for that to be my goal again this year. Perhaps I will even finish that book that I started in 2012. Traditionally I am a nonfiction writer, but I found fiction so fun and freeing! Because I am somewhat humbled by fiction—and nothing was riding on it—I didn’t feel the pressure I normally do, and I was able to let go of that internal editor. Hopefully the same is true this year.

Kayla: My NaNoWriMo goal is just to make 50,000 words by the end of the month—and to develop a workable plot, which I don’t quite have right now. :)

Nik: My NaNoWriMo goal is to write 50,000 words. I am currently about 5,000 words (two chapters) into a young-adult novel featuring a Korean-American protagonist who gets himself into a precarious situation while helping his younger sister.

We suspect that the more you declare your goal, the more accountable you'll hold yourself. So spread the word! Declare your goal(s) here and with the hashtags #acwrimo (see the most recent tweets below) and #nanowrimo on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. What are your writing goals for the month? Share with us in the comments!

As you progress through AcWriMo and NaNoWriMo, know that we are cheering you on! Here are some of our strategies:

• Setting goals—and publicizing those goals—can be scary. Check out Hillary's tips for overcoming writing fear and anxiety. 
• Are you having trouble getting started on your goal? See our suggestions for procrastinators.
• Create a writing calendar for your dissertation, final project, novel, or other writing goal to keep yourself on track.