No, not Christmas. If you think I am one of those people who eagerly await the Yuletide season with shining eyes and heart of hope, you can rest assured that after the last several such holidays I had, it will take a lot of doing to get me to anticipate Christmas with anything more than a sense of vague dread. I’m talking about National Novel Writing Month.
I know. Probably another thing I can only approach with a sense of vague dread if not out and out terror and revulsion. And writely so. Ha.
Last year, I started NaNoWriMo at about iMo–meaning, two-thirds of the way through. I started on November 20th or some such lunatic date, fully aiming to be done my prescribed 50,000 words on a single work in progress by the midnight chimes on November 30. Needless to say, I ended up just shy of that mark. Just a little.
This year, I have a plan:
Anything goes.
I write in either of my main works in progress, I count it toward my word count.
If I write a blogpost, I count it toward my word count.
If I write a short story, I count it.
If I write a book review, I count it.
Add a paragraph to an old dream I started to write down, counted.
A memo on the whiteboard at work, counted.
Not quite the last one, but you get the idea.
I’m also, in the spirit of Gawain embarking upon his quest to find the Green Knight a day later than he should have (he started on November 2, All Souls’ Day, rather than November 1, All Saints’ Day, which would have been a much more symbolically auspicious day to begin a spiritual journey because the religious symbolism matters–yes, I’m still on that tack), starting my quest for 50,000 words rather late and giving myself until Christmas to find the headless spook.
Well, here we are, I’d better get mounted if I intend to traverse the craggy escarpments of unedited manuscripts, battle the mythical beasts of uncooperative characters, and push through the howling elements of incoherent plots.
After abandoning shop this past month, you can probably look forward to a few more frequent blog posts as I frantically try to catch up with my book reviews in order to pad out my word count. You are this very moment witnessing the start of it.
Do you do NaNoWriMo? Do you avoid it? Is this the first you’ve heard of it? Let me know in the comments below–if I have comments to respond to, you can bet I will count the words. Help a girl out.
You can count your comment toward your word total, too; I won’t tell the WriMo regulatory board. The secret will go with me to my imminent beheading. And grave thereafter.
Okay, I’m done now. I swear. Bye.
Fictitiously Yours 