Hitting the Books

Sorry for the long interlude between posts. We were away for the long weekend–went up to see my in-laws in Corning, NY (which is not “upstate,” no matter what my husband says) and show off the Punkin. Of course, it takes time to recuperate from the trip up and back, but here I am at long last clicky-clacking away at my keyboard.

Right before I left for non-upstate New York, I bit the bullet and signed up for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Two main ideas drive this event. The first is that the biggest obstacle to writing is procrastination (so, so true). The second, that misery loves company (yup, that’s what it says on the website). NaNoWriMo provides the deadline necessary to spur all us procrastinators to words and good deeds, and the company of thousands of like-minded, suffering writers. The goal? Write a 50,000 word novel in one month, starting at midnight on November 1st and ending at midnight on November 30th.

Obviously, the quality is not going to be top-notch, but at least words are going down on paper, which is better than sitting there and staring at a blank page for hours on end. Participants are allowed to make outlines and plot notes ahead of time, but no actual writing. There is no competition, except that of yourself against the clock, and no prizes, other than the satisfaction of completing a novel.

Now that I’m a participant, there’s the problem of which novel to work on. I have a fantasy trilogy in the works, but the third is the only one I’ve not started on yet, and I’m not sure I want to complete book 3 before books 1 and 2. I’ve got the plotlines and main characters for a dozen different historical romances, but those require a lot of background research. Otherwise I’ll end up rewriting the whole story to make it mostly historically accurate–I’m a bit of a stickler for that kind of accuracy (or if the facts must be stretched to fit the story, I at least know what the real facts were). Right now I’m leaning towards the fantasy, but then again…ack! Indecision strikes again.

After I finally decide which story to work on (hopefully before October 31st), I’ve got to find the time to write. 50,000 words in 30 days works out to roughly 1700 words/4.5 pages a day. That’s a lot of writing. And I really can’t write unless the Punkin is sleeping (pay attention to the Punkin!). I get the feeling sleep is going to go bye-bye during the month of November. But that’s okay. Sleep deprivation does wonders for the imagination.

If you’re interested in joining this time of mass insanity, go to nanowrimo.org or click on the icon in my sidebar.