It's That Time of Year Again

I'm not talking about the holidays – Halloween through New Year, much as I enjoy them. Friday is the start of NaNoWriMo –National Novel Writing Month.

Once again I'm not taking part, but I'm certainly encouraging anyone so inclined to do so.

My daughter Kate, who has successfully done it two years in a row, is ready to go again. She's been thinking about it for more than a month, mulling over the story she wants to tell, the characters, the plot. Tomorrow she'll dive in.

That's what's fun about the idea. Diving in fearlessly.

In a nutshell, you try to complete a 50,000 word story in one month – from Nov. 1 through 30. Personally I'd have picked a 31-day month, but that's me. That means 1,666 words a day, every day, Sunday through Saturday, including Thanksgiving.

Go to their website, there's plenty of tools and groups and advice.

I'm not taking part not because I think the idea is silly. On the contrary. Anything that gets people interested in novels and writing and story telling is good, right? But I've got a work in progress (Who Is Brainiac Kapow?) and I'm already more than 6,000 words into it, so that's hardly fair. And with my work schedule, I can't commit myself to crank out a certain number of words every day. Sometimes I get more than 2,000 down in a day. Then I go a couple of days when I can't block out any time because of reporting or editing for the Source.

I think I'll be finished with the first draft right around the end of November, but I could be off by several months, and why would I want to set myself up to feel failure? I'll finish when I finish, and I'll enjoy the ride without the need for the artificial construct of a month.

Which brings me to:

WIP UPDATE - Wednesday I wrote 1,222 words, a chapter in which I get some of Brainiac's background, and introduce M.O.M. Got some laughs from Tori when she read them. Total is now 6,782.

Doesn't look like I'll be getting much done today, too much running around. But Friday school is out, so I won't have kids to pick up, lunch to make, any of those things. I expect it'll be a good writing day, but I also know that sometimes you just don't know what's coming. It's a little thing called life.