I Don't Wanna Stop

(If I can borrow a phrase from Ozzy)

As if cranking out 50,000 words in thirty days isn’t enough of a challenge, I’ve taken the bait and volunteered to do some blogging here about my NaNoWriMo experiences. Which are limited, so it shouldn’t take long. This is only my second attempt at it. I took the plunge for the first time last year at the urging of an online buddy, and signed up at T-minus 4 days (October 28, 2008) with nary a thought in my little pea brain as to what I was going to write. But that didn’t stop me. Oh no. Common sense was nowhere in sight. My friend’s enthusiasm for the miasma that would become life during NaNo was infectious (in a good way) and so I took up the challenge.

Oh those first glorious days (once I had a story idea) flowed. Word count, shmerd count, thought I, as I typed merrily away. Who’syerdaddy! I taunted my muse. Big mistake.

Then reality set in. After two weeks, I missed an entire week of writing and my confidence evaporated like… like… like something that evaporates really fast. Like those little drips of coffee that fall when you take the pot off the hot plate in the coffee maker, and they sizzle and bubble and are gone before you can grab a towel and mop them up. Kinda like that.

I managed to clock in at something under 27,000 words (not much under) so not an inconsiderable effort.

This year, however, I am resolved to tough it out to the bitter end, even if I don’t make the full 50k. I’ve even conned …err… convinced two friends to join in the fray, and am putting the thumbscrews to a third. I have no pearls of wisdom if you are new to this, except to Plant Butt In Chair and write. Turn off the internal editor, first drafts are supposed to be crap. Get some good music to tune out the sound of the dishwasher running, and the dog barking, and your neighbor continually gunning the engine of some antique muscle car he’s been trying to restore for the last ten years…

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines.