What I'll be Doing in November

Hi everyone,

I've already told a couple of you about this, but just to make it a formal commitment, sort of in public I am announcing (dramatic drum roll) that I will be participating in a writing challenge that goes from Nov 1 to Nov 30th. It's called NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 175-page novel from scratch in 30 days. It'll be an experiment in motivation and self-discipline, as well as actually producing pages.

There's a nasty little critic who likes to sit on my shoulder, and I'm going to practice for 30 days ignoring him every time he whispers in my ear. I may even let the dogs play with him if he bothers me too much.

I'm going to treat this like a real job, probably going to the library or a coffee shop every day for a few hours, so I can crank out my 2500-3000 words a day. I'm letting you all know so you won't think I'm avoiding you when I don't pick up the phone, or if I'm not here when you come around.

Here's a link to the NaNoWriMo website, if you're curious. www.nanowrimo.org. It has multiple pages that will give you the flavor of the event-- kinda fun and crazy, but with the purpose to overcome obstacles and Just Do It.

I still want to tend Eli, make dinners, enjoy Thanksgiving, text and talk on the phone,etc. but I may not be available 24 / 7. Just leave me a message if I don't pick up and I'll call you when I get home, or when I turn the phone back on. We can make specific plans and I'll work them into my word-count frenzy. If I talk to you a lot this coming month, be forewarned that anything you say might end up worked into the conversational bits of the book, if I get desperate for words. Please try to be very clever and provide some sparking repartee that I can steal, ummmm, use for dialogue.