Return of the Son of NaNoWriMo Lives Again IV

Yes, I'm taking another stab (and slash, and burn...) at NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, this November. 50,000 words? Pshaw.

My ninja!

I first planned to tackle writing a novel called They Might Be Roses for NaNoWriMo in 2012. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, and a planned flight to Louisville, Kentucky was canceled, forcing me to drive instead, and... suffice it to say, I didn't get much writing done (though I did eventually write and record a song with the same title). I made attempts again at banging out a novel in 2013 and 2014, but it still never worked out.

I'd vaguely considered trying again this year, but really wasn't certain I wanted to commit myself to it. I'm seeing Sleater-Kinney tonight (yes, a Halloween concert!), and "Terminator: Dark Fate" tomorrow night, I'll be traveling next week, and attending another concert the week after that, and then there's Thanksgiving... It just seemed like I'd already lost so much writing time. Then I opened an E-mail this Monday about a gathering of regional Northeast New Jersey "nenja" NaNoWriMo participants, at a time and place (three miles from home!) that I could easily make. I still dithered about it for a few hours, particularly since I wasn't going to know a single person there, though I finally decided I'd check it out. I'm glad I did.

I had a fun time with these people. OK, maybe the margarita helped, but rather than cutting out early as I'd expected to do, I stayed over an hour later than the event was planned to end. I didn't talk much about my own novel plans; truth be told, I didn't have much in the way of novel plans, other than a title (Just the One of Us)and a vague idea, which has grown a bit since then. At any rate, I am now determined to do this. Pretty sure I need to do this. So NaNoWriMo, here I come...

NaNoWriMo

So.  I've decided to give this NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) thing a try.  The idea, in case you're unfamiliar with it, is to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November.  Yeah, it's a real commitment.  I'm admittedly nervous about the prospect of writing over 1,600 words a day for thirty days, but... if I'm ever going to write a novel, this is the scenario most likely to make it happen.  I've signed up for it, and broadcast my intention to the world, so the pressure will hopefully aid me in reaching the goal.  Besides, it'd be nice to be able to say that, not only have I written and recorded my own independent album ("Joy in the New"), I've written my own novel, too.  ;-)  I've already purchased a NaNoWriMo 2012 T-shirt, in hopes of egging myself on:

Speaking of my music, I've decided to tie the novel to a new song I started writing a little while ago.  "They Might Be Roses" as a song title (and then a novel title) was inspired by a walk with Laura a few months ago; we came across a flowering bush (hmmm, that could be a title for something else entirely) we couldn't immediately identify, and the musing "they might be roses" response led me to think about... well, you'll have to check out the song and/or the novel to discern what it led me to think about.  In any event, I started writing the song lyrics in September, and several weeks later, after I'd committed myself to NaNoWriMo, it occurred to me that I could expand the concept I was using for the song into a novel, so that's what I'm fixin' to do.

Laura and I will be flying on the 1st to visit her father and sister for a few days, so instead of reading on the plane as I usually do, hopefully I can get some writing done.  I'm expecting that I'll have to rearrange my daily routine in order to get so much wordsmithing done in a month, but I'm determined to make it happen, and preferably without much procrastination (I'm too honest with myself to say "without any procrastination"); I can't imagine myself trying to bang out the last 10,000 words in the last two days.

"Better that your life be a blur than a blurb."  This past week has been a blur, with Regina Spektor, Indigo Girls, and Aimee Mann concerts keeping us up later than usual for three nights out of the last four, and I expect November to be blur-rific as well.  For now, though, we've got an impending "Frankenstorm" to weather.  Stay safe if you, too, are in the Northeast!