March Novel Writing Challenge

Also known as MarNo. This has some similarities to NaNoWriMo except there aren't as many people who take part in the event and it's more relaxed on the rules front. There also isn't a prize except for the great feeling of accomplishing a goal. Some people create groups on different sites and those can have small awards but that doesn't always happen.

http://www.proflowers.com/flower-calendar.aspx

Basics:
Make a writing goal for March.
March 1st - start writing.
Finish writing goal before April.
Nothing more.

Goals can be any word count; writing or revising. Some people go with the classic 50,000 word challenge like that of NaNoWriMo while others only go with 10,000 or 25,000. Others who revise go by number of chapters often times or just say the whole book.

Last year, MarNo was my greatest writing month ever. I had originally planned to only write 20k but then the goal became 50k after the first week. In fact, I made 50k after 15 days. The end number was 67,000 words in one month. I had a little over 15k before March and after I finished writing in April, the novel ended at 90,000 words, becoming my longest first draft for now.  I was definitely happy with my success in March and I still love the novel even though I haven't edited it yet.


MarNo 2011:

This year I plan to try MarNo again. I don't know if the old group is doing it, but I have a new approach this time. Last year, I made word count goals and then exceeded them faster than planned. This year I'm going to try and do something I've never managed to do in a single month. I am going to write a full novel, no matter the word count. Each time I've written 50k or more in one month, I've had to take part of the following month or two in order to finish the novel. This year my goal is to write a young adult novel during March only.

The novel is going to be YA dystopian. I know a bunch of authors are writing dystopian but I love the story and it's very different than my other novels, which will be a plus. I have to figure out details like what kind of monsters will be involved but I can't wait to write this story. I have main character names and a mock title (still looking for a better title cause it really isn't good). I'm ready to go. I might even try using scrivener for this one.

For those taking part, one place we can keep track together is on twitter. Use the hashtag search "#MarNo" and we can keep in touch that way. The community is what helps during nanowrimo and it can help during MarNo even if it's a lot smaller of one.



Anyone else trying MarNo?
What are your writing goals for March?