Counting Down to NaNoWriMo!

I feel it. Anyone else? It’s like a finger running up my back, a whisper blowing under my door. It’s a sure sign October is here. There’s a change in the air. Do you feel it, too? It’s looming. Waiting to pounce and carry me away.

Or, at least, I hope it does.

No, not Halloween spooks and ghouls. It’s another sort of October creature. It’s a new book, making it known, that come November 1, it wants to be started.

National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo is almost here.

You’re either into it (because you’ve participated and you’re hooked), you’re toying with the idea and will give it a try (but not sure about committing), you’re still thinking about it, or you're sure it’s pure nuttiness.

Me? I’m sort of in the first group, without the frenzy and obsession that many NaNo writers have (you know, those that write 20 K word on day one). I gave it a go last year and I LOST, proudly! (You must write 50,000 words during the month of November to call yourself a winner.) What I do know? I did more writing last November than I would have had I not participating. But, even more, I loved the process of turning off my internal editor and going for it. I’ve carried that keep-it-moving-forward attitude throughout my current work in progress, even during revision.

But back to that feeling; it crept in over the weekend. A character started talking to me, (I know for non-writers that probably sounds crazy) revealing things that made me want to get started now, before the revision is done, before November arrives. But I won’t—not that I didn’t get down what that finger up my back and whisper under my door delivered to me. I did!