NANOWRIMO

NaNoWriMo.

"What the hell is that?" I hear you asking.

Well, for me, it's a looming thing - a seemingly insurmountable challenge - which I've thrown myself into every year for the last five or so. I have yet to succeed, so naturally I'll try again this year.

It stands for National Novel Writing Month. The insane (and absolutely fantastic) idea is to write like your life depends on it from 12:00 am on November 1st until 11:59 pm on November 30th, in an attempt to finish an entire novel (all 50,000 words of one) within a single month. I know.

FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS in THIRTY DAYS.

Now, I'm a mother, and before that I was a full-time zookeeper (which never actually means 8-5 M-F), and obviously there is no sunup to sundown writing schedule in my past, present or future. So I don't ever EVER think of the total word count. Ever. It's just too big. Too scary. Instead, I think of it in terms of "slightly less than 6 pages per day" or even "1600 words per day" because even that sounds doable.

I say that as if I've actually managed to finish an entire novel during this annual writing frenzy, which I have not, despite those five attempts. It seems like every year I go into it with a great deal of enthusiasm and determination, and then I hit a slow spot in my plot or I miss a day or two of writing and then I lose my gumption.

I'd like to say that this year will be different, and I truly hope it is, but who fucking knows? The good news is, I usually walk away from the thing with yet another novel idea on my list. I always start something completely different from anything else I've written, because I feel like I'm cheating if I just start adding to something I'd already begun before that November 1st date. What can I say? I'm a rule following prude.

This angel calls bullshit on my self-appointed 'prude' label - she's never seen me before...

Anyway. The point is, I've apparently decided to participate in this event every single year, whether I finish or not. Honestly? I kinda love that. I'm a big believer in the power of focused energy - from one person or many - so the idea of jumping on a writing bandwagon with almost half-a-million other creative minds is incredibly seductive to me. Actually, that's another great thing about NaNo. There are organized write-ins all over the world. You can find a nearby event on the website, and then go to the meetup (typically held at libraries, book stores, parks, in back alleys or creepy old church basements) and sit around with other people who've also decided to torture themselves for thirty straight days. There's something incredible about all of that creativity, all of that uninhibited imagination crammed together in a limited space. Stop making that face. The one that says "What. The. Fuck is she talking about? What a fruitcake."

There is nothing wrong with being a bit of a fruitcake.

So, my plan? Mostly just to spend every free minute I've got with my face in front of a computer or a notebook. This means my kid will likely be watching more television than normal in November, and dinners will probably be served out of the crockpot on a regular basis (seriously - I am a HUGE fan of throwing some frozen meat and a bunch of other tasty shit in a heated bowl and magically having dinner ready at the end of the day), but I don't think the world will come crashing down over it.

In the meantime, I have ONE day to come up with a story idea. Damn it.

Procrastination: 1

Me: 0