NaNoWriMo 2012

I made a decision recently to write every day. To see if I could keep that up for a whole year. The plan was to use 750words.com and just do it.

Then a friend on Facebook asked who was doing NaNoWriMo. I’ve wanted to. Every year I’ve wanted to. I always made excuses, and I never did it. Sometimes, the excuses were somewhat legitimate. The rules are that you must be working on a brand-new novel–not a single word can be written before midnight November 1st. So when I was still finishing After the Snow Falls, I thought it would give me literary ADD if I started something else.

But this year, I had already been doing research for a new novel. I hadn’t written a word yet because I was still working out details of plot. I put the push on, hammered out a plot I’m very pleased with, and took the plunge.

Today is day five (5), and I’m just packing it in for the day after writing my 6,387th word. I’m a little behind–our furniture arrived last week. We spent a chaotic day in a sea of dressers, chairs and tables with mountains of cardboard and protective plastic wrap. We had to rush to get everything set up because 20 students were coming for an ESL class THAT NIGHT!

With the help of some good friends and neighbors we finished the job and the house looked beautiful and serene in time for 20 kids to come in and bounce all over the new furniture! (Pictures and post to come).

I’m hoping to make up the words over time–I exceeded the daily count today and yesterday. And I’m loving this! I’m wondering why I’ve never tried it before! I learned so much the first time around with After the Snow Falls. The seasoning of that experience has definitely taught me the tricks I need to keep going.

And this experience is teaching me a valuable lesson of its own: you never know what you might be able to accomplish unless you try.