(Note: The idea discussed in this post came about without consideration that November is National Novel Writing Month. However, the coincidence is one I certainly enjoy.)
My friend wants to write a novel. I have written two novels (amateur writer, so don't ask) and a variety of other projects, so we got to talking about the idea when I realized it'd been almost a year since I really tried to write something big. I proposed we make a writing wager. However, I didn't want to make a wager that encouraged speed or competition because both of those would make the writing less fun and less enjoyable.
What we settled on was this: each person picks a charity. On November 1, we begin writing. When a person finishes their novel, they make a donation to the charity of their choice. If the person gives up or goes one month without significant progress, they "lose" and make a donation to the other person's charity of choice.
Now, two other friends have joined in and we're pooling everything while pairing off so that each person only has to pay to one charity if they drop out. I think it'll be a fun exercise and good encouragement for all of us to keep up the writing. Especially for someone like me, who lives in a hyper-distracting environment that makes focus very difficult.
