nanowrimo 2005

I have made a decision.

In the interests of butt kicking my Muse back into writing mode from her long (long, long, LONG) vacation, I have decided to join the countless thousands of other insane persons in what we affectionately call NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who weren't around when I was pimping Allison's valiant NaNo progress last year, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is a challenge to would-be novelists to sit down and pound out 50,000 words between midnight on November 1st and midnight on November 30th.

50,000 words is a LOT of words. Even in the glorious, heady heyday of "Sect" I was only churning out about 20,000 words a month (a chapter a week at about 5,000 words per chapter), so 50k is a LARGE goal.

But it is, nevertheless, a goal, and if there's one thing I've learned about myself and my writing so far, it's that I work best with a deadline.

What does this actually mean you may be asking? Well, it means this: I have registered with the official NaNoWriMo site where I will enter my daily word count. If, by the end of the month, I have achieved 50,000 words (whether or not the novel is actually finished), I will be listed as one of the "winners" on the site. You don't actually win anything other than the pride of being able to say that you did it. But that's OK.

This also means that I will be spending this month, October, planning my novel and next month AGONIZING over every word. Hopefully the INSANE deadline will keep me focused and keep me from freaking out about making every word a gem. That's what the next year and the editing process are for. ;)

I just think if I could get the thing WRITTEN, if I could get some sort of a draft started, I could really start to make some headway on this thingy.

Of course, for those of you worried about "Sect," I will also be trying desperately to finish the final chapter this month before the insanity kicks in next month. We'll see.

In any case, start praying for me now. Pray that my Muse will get off her lazy arse and come help me out. Pray that Brandon will not kill me during the month of November. Pray that I remember to do things like sleep and shower during the month of November.

We, who are about to write, salute you.