Monday, October 12, 2009

T-Minus 20 Days to NaNo

I'm surprising myself. I'm getting psyched up for NaNo (National Novel Writing Month, or NaNo WriMo) and I already know I won't succeed. I'm not a pessimist. I didn't succeed either of the past two years I started NaNo novels, and I have even less time this year. I don't need to be an Antactic researcher to know it'll be a cold day in hell before I finish 50,000 words when I'm lucky to get five hours of sleep and four or five hours of family time per day.

Novel writing includes a lot of sacrifice. I'm willing to do that. Indeed, I've done that. But this year, not quite as much will be allowed.

Still, I'm getting psyched. Why? Because I've got Twitter friends who are encouraging me. Many of these are part of the online community of writers at AgentQuery, which is probably my favorite writing-related site, but I've also come across other NaNoers. Some of them even follow me through my work-related Twitter account, which is kinda cool.

I'm eager to get started, though I'll admit I'm of two minds about what to write. I could easily get back into my work from last year, which requires much more than another 50,000 words, especially since I only got about 15,000 written last year during NaNo and far fewer once December hit. (And virtually none after the closing days of the year brought me two bundles of happiness and poopy diapers.) But I also could return to writing funny stuff (well, funny at least to me.) And like many who've been treated like a cat toy over the past year, I could use a couple laughs.

Perhaps I'll post updates on Twitter like this: Fell asleep on the train again while writing 30 words. It's 30 I hadn't written before.

Regardless, I know that I need to get back into my writing. My girls deserve it.

Good luck fellow NaNoers. The most grueling days are before us. Keep your pens, pencils, and minds sharp.

2 comments:

Cat Woods said...

I'm psyched too, though I have no idea what in Sam Hill I will write about. I've been tossing around ideas for a while now but can't seem to solidify one.

I just can't believe how fast it's rushing up on us.

Getting pompoms ready to twitter cheer as needed. Even thirty words deserves a rah!

Matt Sinclair said...

Thanks for the comment Cate (or should I call you Cat?)

Maybe you can write something funny about a place called Sam Hill? What in the Sam Hill is that all about anyway?

As is often the case, I'm tossing between humor and seriousness. Left and right sides of my brain in constant battle, each trying to sever the corpus collosum connection between them, but smart enough to know that there's no turning back once that is done. So it remains.