Two years back I took on the challenge of doing a National Novel Writing Month. That meant attempting, in one month, to write 50,000 words of a novel and getting it knocked out by the deadline. In 2006 I did it with three days to spare, if I remember correctly. In 2007, I did it with two hours to spare, punching out 12,000 words or so of it in one sitting and driving myself to the point of delirium so I didn’t miss the deadline. This year, November’s coming up really quickly and I am literally petrified at the notion of doing this again.
This year is different than last year. Where last year, taking on NaNo was difficult because I had just taken on a new job to which I was just acclimating, this year I have even more work. I am going to school, working, worrying about my future potentially in the police department, and trying to find time to run a full-scale live-action roleplay game and write in my spare time. Call me crazy but that’s a damn full schedule. Oh yes, and I’d like to sleep, eat, and maybe see my friends in between. It hasn’t been a fun ride so far since the semester started and now… NaNo.
I’m by far sure I’m insane for even considering this malarky; adding a deadline of 50,000 words by the end of November to my already hectic work week is not something I’m sure I’m ready for. Yet there is a tradition for me to uphold and frankly, it might drive me to get in more work. So I’m going to give it the old college try. To me, it’s worth kicking in some extra work to make myself meet the deadline. It’s good practice for forcing myself to sit down and write.
Now if only I knew what the hell I was going to write about this year…