Ready, set, write!

Dear PNN, 

I apologize for neglecting this lovely community over the past weeks - I've been settling into work and finding my way around my new life.  And I'm here to tell you I will be shamelessly sporadic in posting again until December 1st. 

"But whyyyyyyyyyyy?!?!" you may be moaning in despair (don't worry, I can hear you loud and clear ;)). 

The reason is because my free time is now taken up with that glorious, crazy-making, exhilarating exercise in unabashed creativity, NaNoWriMo.  

For the uninitiated, this stands for National Novel Writing Month, a worldwide event that challenges each and every one of its participants to write a 50,000 word novel during the course of this month.  The objective is sheer, raw, quantity, not quality, because the aim is to teach you that a) you can totally write a novel while having a normal life (i.e. it's not necessary to take off to a secluded island to write your masterpiece over the course of six months), and b) to prove to yourself that you can do it, that you have a story inside you.  We all do. 

I participated last year for the first time and won, and let me tell you, it was the best boost in confidence for my writing skills ever.  You see, I have dreams of being a published author one day (don't we all!), but I'd continually stumble and fall down at around, oh, word number 1,560.  Which is not going to get very far in the publishing industry.  So I sat down and I wrote.  I pumped out 8000 words in a weekend.  It was absurd, it was insane, it was GLORIOUS.  

And now I have a 53,000 word story that is going to have to be substantially revised with major plot changes, but you know what? That's totally ok.  Writing out what I've written so far showed me what I want to change, how I want to change it, and makes me hopeful that one day, I will really be sending that manuscript off to an agent.  So I'm giving it another shot this year.  

Last year was fiction of the serious, emotional variety, this year is going to be a Regency Romance with some elves, fairies, witches, and evil magicians throw in for good measure.   

If you're also participating in this madness, add me as a buddy! I'm Mayathebee over on the NaNo forums too.  If not, you can still join - just take the first idea that pops into your head and run with it!

See you on December 1st!