NaNoWriMo

I just signed up for NaNoWriMo. Dude, I must be crazy. November is always the month of insanity for me, so why add to it?

On Thursday, I am flying to Washington for the Western Washington SCBWI's Writing Retreat program (wheeeeeeee!) and will be tired, busy, brain-drained, and happy when I come home. How will I write 2k words a day in my NaNo novel? I have no earthly idea. My goal this month is to try.

November is also Henry's birth month, so his first birthday is coming up.

And Thanksgiving.

And Jim's final long stretch before the end of the semester, which means lots more studying, grading, and homework which will keep him away.

But if I write (even pure unadulterated crap) at any moment I get, then it should benefit my writing career. Right?

Oh. I am focusing on improving my plotting abilities this month, too, and characterization.

And I am sort of cheating. I know, we're not supposed to cheat. And we shouldn't admit to it publicly on our blogs, but I feel like I have to. I won't include any prose I've already written, but I am going to re-write the first portion of one of my novels. So it's an edge. I know my characters, have sketched them out (and printed off "photos"), and am working on plot. I am hoping that NaNo will get my first draft in gear.

December can be all about rewriting and perfection.

AmNoWriMo

No, not NaNoWriMo. No, not Amnesiatic Novel Writing Month (unless the computer died and all was erased)...but Amber's Novel Writing Month. Yup. I'm going to do it. Just not in November. Seriously, that would be insane, unfair, and painful. I'll be laboring (no joke) in November, and that'll be insane, unfair, and painful enough for the whole year.

I haven't picked a month yet, but I'm guessing I might be able to do it in March. Or February. Wait, that month is too short. Yeah, March. Thirty-one whole days. The budding of Spring. A 2 1/2-year-old and a four-month-old. One crazy mama.

So I can't join the uber-cool NaNoWriMo crowd and use all of their nifty procrastination helpers and tack on writing friends like gnats to a lollypop, but I can challenge YOU to do it with me. That is, if you're brave enough. If you're not depleted by doing the actual, tried-and-true NaNoWriMo.

Who is game? You don't have to state yourselves now...I'll give you another chance in January when I post this again.

Of course, we'd have to change the name of the game if there's more than just me doing it.