Tuesday, October 21, 2008

counting down

The excitement is building. Hope and fear ride the alternating currents of doubt and self-confidence. I check my schedule to make sure I have enough time blocked out. I read the mounting piles of forum posts and scan the expanding list of options and questions to make sure I'm getting everything I need.

Can I do it? I Will Do It. I will? Yes.

NaNoWriMo is coming. As if I haven't said that several times already and as if there isn't the biggest badge they have available sitting just to the left of this post when it is new. Ten days. In ten days I will begin a thirty day journey to write 50,o00 words by the end of that time period.

It will begin at midnight Halloween-to-November.

I don't have a plot. I don't have a set of characters waiting in the wings. I don't have a location nor a journey nor a goal other than earning the label of "winner" by writing 50,000 words in November. There have been a couple things which may be included in my novel which have surfaced in freewrites (one character appeared in a 3-minute sprint write; I liked her voice, so she may have a part to play in whatever story surfaces), or picked up on a sign-in sheet at a location where I went one day (a last name), or a snippet of an overheard conversation (shhh, I'm not telling right now), or a feeling that surfaced when my aunt told me earlier this afternoon that she has some letters my mother sent to my grandmother many many years ago and would I like them?

I am fine with not knowing where my novel will go. I will join the others at midnight (I will probably show up a little earlier, as I know others will, too) and, yes, I will wear my pajamas as has been suggested. My goal is to be there at least four hours - maybe as much as six hours. And just write. I will have a little stash of prompts with me, which I will share if anyone else wants a random place to start.

I will start up my laptop and see what comes out as an opening. Then see who shows up on the virtual page and where they want to go. And I will follow them for the month and see where we end up. A journey. Between me and the characters who want to play along for thirty days.

The countdown is now official. Ten days to the tenth NaNoWriMo...

Thanks to Lori and her
Superfantastic blog
for the graphic.