It's gonna be an interesting month

Earlier in October, a few folks at The Republic of Pemberley (my favorite Jane Austen website) posted about their planned participation in National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. I had seen discussions about this in previous years, and never really thought seriously about it. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in the space of 30 days, and it always happens in November. Well, I was talking with some of the folks in the LIS program at UH, and it turns out one of my friends there has done NaNoWriMo before and is doing it again this year, so I figured what the heck?? I enjoy writing, I flatter myself I'm a pretty good writer, let's see if I've got a novel in me and whether I can get it written in 30 days!

I have some plot outlines and character ideas jotted down, but the rules state that you're not allowed to actually start writing until midnight, November 1st at the earliest. Well here it is October 31st at around 10:00 Hawai'i time and I wouldn't exactly say I'm pumped or excited - more like apprehensive! Am I crazy to try to do this right now, while I'm working on a Master's degree?? Probably! Can I go all the way? I really just don't know. Will I try? You bet!

People have been filling up the NaNoWriMo boards with ideas for how to adjust their lives and figure out ways to make time for writing - cutting out TV shows and Internet browsing, that kind of thing. I'm sure I could deal with that, but something rather more important may get in the way for me (aside from, y'know, those pesky homework assignments). And that is...

I'm leaving later this week to visit Eamon for five days! I won't say five whole days because we won't have all day of every day that I'm there, but believe me, I'm not complaining. We'll just make the most of the time we will have and then it will only be a few weeks until we can see each other again for Christmas!

So all of that is to say, I'm going to try to participate in NaNoWriMo, and I hope to name myself among the winners (that is, writers who accomplish the 50,000 word goal - the satisfaction is its own prize!) But I will also be realistic and if it's just not going to happen, there's always next year!