The Hour Is Almost Here...

And, no, I don't mean Halloween (though I am also counting the hours to that favorite holiday).

It's almost time for NaNoWriMo!

Last year, I followed the progress of all those writers participating in National Novel Writing Month with a little trepidation and jealousy--kind of like a kid who stands on the edge of the playground watching the other kids but is too shy to join in on all the games.

This year, though, I am going to jump right in. For those who don't know, the goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. The project should be a new novel (nothing previously worked on), and it doesn't have to end at 50,000 words. Many writers continue with their project after the end of the month.

It's quite an undertaking, to be sure, but I think it is reachable. I wrote my first novel by setting a 2,000 word a day goal for myself, which seems close to what NaNoWriMo expects.

The goal of NaNoWriMo seems to go beyond the word count, though. The true goal just seems to be about getting serious about writing--to make it a habit, to develop a work ethic. But to have fun with it at the same time--to joyfully jump into writing without stressing over what makes a perfect sentence or the "just right" word. It's also about joining a community of writers, people who share my love for language, for writing, but who also share my phobias and fears about tackling "the great novel."

NaNoWriMo, above all, is about stopping the talk of "I'll write a novel...one day" and actually doing it.

And with that in mind....here I go!