ChroNoWriMo: Can an author write a book on a Chromebook?

This post is an announcement to the internet:

I’m attempting NaNoWriMo. On a Chromebook.

In case you didn’t know, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. The rules of NaNoWriMo are simple: write a 50-thousand-word novel in 30 days (during November). That’s about 1.67k words per day. It’s not super easy. But it’s possible.

And I’m adding an extra rule, upping the ante: I have to do it all on a Chromebook.

What’s a Chromebook? It’s a computer that doesn’t run Windows or Mac OSX or Linux. It just runs Chrome. Yes, like the browser you use to surf the web every day. Just that.

So? Big deal.

Well, it’s a big deal because Chromebooks can’t run apps like regular computers. That means no Microsoft Word. (It also means no Photoshop or Illustrator or any of those other distractions that come with having a full computer.)

I’m going to write in Google Docs. That shouldn’t be too big of a deal, except I’m worried about how well the skimpy processor will handle a document that big. It may struggle. But I expect I’ll just be able to separate the book into pieces and carry on.

Truth is, I don’t know what it will be like exactly. That’s why I’m going to try it.

The reason I’m telling you is so you can reinforce my goal. Feel free to ask me how it’s going. And if you’re in the throes of NaNoWriMo, leave a comment so I can follow up with you too.

We’re in this together, after all.

— J




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