NaNoWriMo Ho!

I have yet to complete a novel.

There, I’ve said it. I’ve started four novels, and I haven’t finished a single one. I don’t even know where three of them are, and I’d be hard pressed to explain what they were about. The fourth one, at over 50,000 words, is perhaps half finished in terms of plot and could probably stand to be cut by half anyway. So my track record is by no means unblemished.

And yet every year, I roll that boulder up the hill again. What hill, you ask? National Novel Writing Month, of course. In case you haven’t heard of it, it involves writing a 50,000-word novel in November. That’s about 1,667 words per day, 70 words per hour, a bit over 1 word per minute. Assuming you don’t sleep, of course.

But it can be done, and do it I will. I’ve already taken my first tentative steps toward creating characters and outlining, but starting tomorrow I’ll be moving more quickly and purposefully. This time I will have a full plan, with a beginning, middle AND end as opposed to a vague mumble and some plot points. And I’m going to write it all down instead of keeping it in my head and then completely forgetting it in the stress-induced hysteria that tends to arrive around the middle of the month. This time will be different.

No really! It will! Stop laughing. Oh, fine. I’ll show you.

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