Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween and that means?

No, this is not a trip through the etymology of "Halloween" nor the various origins of the celebration.

This is ... come on, you can guess it ...

...a short post to say,
It's NaNoWriMo time!

Tonight I'm leaving work a little earlier than normal to dash across town to join 40 or 50 or more people in the first write-in of NaNoWriMo 2012. The Vancouver NaNoWriMo group has put together a fun place to get our 50k+ novels started - PDX. Even though they are the Vancouver group, they are of course welcoming Portland (or other, I'm sure) NaNoers to join them. Which I will.

"And what's your novel about this year, Dot?"

"Uh. Um. Well. I have a title!"

"And that is, what?"

"Oh, my title? It's, well, see, it started when we went to see Laurie Anderson's 'DirtDay' and I was inspired on several levels. But there was this one part and I was like, wow, oh wow, that. And then I got inspired with a TINY germ of an idea, but the title was instantaneous."

"And....?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm just so excited. But first I have to go get a blood draw (how appropriate is that for Halloween?!) and then I have a personal appointment. After lunch I have an appointment. No - first the blood draw and then some laps in the pool and then -"

"Dot - focus!"

"What? Oh."

"The title?"

"Oh. My NaNoTitle! Yes, after I swim, then I have to get some lunch if I have time but I think I will and. Oh. Title. Gotcha. My NaNoTitle is 'Forty-nine Days of Bardo.' Like it?"

"That seems like an awful lot to live up to. In 30 days?"

"It is."

"What's it about?"

"Well, 49 days in bardo."

"But your story, I mean."

"Oh. Well, you can follow my progress and you'll know almost as soon as I know. And you know I'll be posting updates here. Every day. I hope."

"And everything will be NaNo-ized, right?"

"That's right. Thank you for stopping by and - "

"But how do we follow you?"

"Right. You can check it out over here on my NaNoDot author page."

"Oh boy. NaNoDot?"

"NaNo NaNo, as Mork used to say."

"You're not...."

"No. I'm not bringing Mork and Mindy into this. NaNo just, well, saying NaNoThis and NaNoThat, and it brings to mind Mork and Mindy and - "

"Dot. Bye."

"Thank you, Ms Muse, for checking in. Um, could you please visit me every day? Just to say hi, and maybe through - no, I mean, throw - a few inspired thoughts along my brainwaves and fingers? Please."

"I'll see what I can do. For now, I think I need to get some extra ZZZZ's. I can tell this the next few weeks are going to be a little busy."