NaNoWriMo is almost here!

Call me crazy. Go ahead. It's ok...

Did you do it? Good.

Ok, so we've got that out of the way. And now... National Novel Writing Month. November. Every year. Except I had never heard of it until this spring, so now I'm committed. 50,000 words in 30 days of writing insanity - that's the minimum to "win". Theoretically you could write song lyrics, leave out contractions, have deaf characters that keep asking for things to be repeated. But [call me crazy again] I'm writing a novel. And I'm aiming for 100,000 words. With a plot.

Yeah. 3 days from now, it starts. One of two things will happen (ok, one of an incalculable multitude of things) - either I'll completely freak out and end up with 50,000 words of complete garbage (which is totally possible). Or I'll get a reasonably respectable first draft done.

Or I'll pretend to have amnesia and ignore November altogether.

This is me ignoring November. Because aside from NaNoWriMo, November is cold. So I might ignore it.

Nah. I'm going to get 50,000 words written, at the very least. That's my commitment to myself. My plan, my crazy goal, is to actually produce something worth editing and showing other people. Without losing my mind, yelling and flapping my arms around too much, and still performing at least basic personal hygiene and mom/wife functions (like making sure I have milk for the coffee and some cold beer...).

Heck, maybe I'll be so flush with creative energy I'll post all kinds of new recipes and witty blog posts, exercise every day, and take up knitting. OK, not knitting. But maybe I'll have a month of energy, which would be awesome (unless it is followed by a month of lethargy in December, which would be very not good...).

In short, I have NO IDEA what's going to happen. I know I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm confident. I'm terrified. Whatever happens, it's going to be a heck of a month! I hope you'll be along for the ride... and that I have enough mental energy to post about it!

This is "our" owl. He looks smart. Even when he seems to be sleeping, he's watching. And his eyes are freaky. There's no reason he's on this blog, except this is what I see out the window of the sunroom sometimes, and that's where I write. So maybe he'll be there to inspire me... Or freak me out with his eyes.