National Novel Writing Month is upon us!

I used Grammarly's proofreading software because in a game of NaNoWriMo, you win or you cry. There is no middle ground.

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when we’re full on candy, planning Thanksgiving meals, and frantically trying to organize our notes for The Next Big Novel.

 Ah yes, I can feel the wheels in my brain turning already! Now, I first really learned about NaNoWriMo last year which was great because at the time I was just brimming with ideas. I felt like the most organized person on earth, with my ideas fully plotted out, my character’s drawn and envisioned, my storyboard and outline completed, and even a few pages handwritten out (I always work best handwriting before typing things up,) but alas there were extraneous factors that decided to show up during last November. Mistake (well, maybe not really) #1 was buying a kitten on November 1st. For those of you who have been with my blog for a while you remember this little girl, right?

Well, she was on sale at Petsmart for $20.12 and I couldn’t resist, because I’ve been looking into getting one for so long. Her name’s Lucille Ball (Lucy) by the way, and here she is one year later:

Well, besides that, I actually started the month off really good! I felt the creative juices run through my system, and I’m not just talking about those early morning coffee highs that had me twitching by noon. I was ahead of schedule and proud! Then, extraneous factor #2 (and perhaps the last) happened: My mom told me I was wasting my time. Since it’s not like I have any other family or friends, this really depressed me, and I had absolutely no support whatsoever. So I basically quit at about 15,000 words, and when I say quit, I mean I stopped writing, planning, thinking, and participating all together. I only tried to start writing again earlier this year when I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo and brought my story up to 20,000 words. It’s not a lot, I know, but by that time (and even now,) I completely forgot where my story was headed, and how I was going to get it’s drive back. Maybe I can start again. Maybe I can pick up where I left off, and maybe, more hopefully, I can prove that it’s not a waste of time, and that I’m writing a story worth sharing.

So I'll dust off my pens, smooth out my paper and re-explore my enthusiasm, my wonderment, my creativity.