... thy name be NaNoWriMo! (Because National Novel Writing Month is a mouthful)
It's that time of year, folks. The undisputed, unrivaled, unparalleled, number one most anticipated literary event of the season.
For those unfamiliar with the task, it is an international challenge put forth to creative writers everywhere - write a complete rough draft of a creative novel.
Here's the catch - the entirety of the 50,000 word minimum has to be written within the month of November. That's right. An average of 1,667 words must be banged out per day in order for the writer to reach their goal in time.
If you win, you get tons of bragging rights. Obviously.
But here's the deal, chickadees... four years have I competed, yet never have I completed this voluntary descent into literary madness.
This year, it's way different.
See, I have already put one challenge forth to myself: complete the re-write of my manuscript before the end of the year. Why not use NaNo as motivation to write 50k words on this project? Brilliance!
But my genius was followed by the revelation that, even if I succeeded, it wouldn't count as an official NaNo win, because only new projects that have not had any prior writing can be eligible.
So I was faced with a choice... do I attempt for the fifth year to complete the challenge and sacrifice my initial goal, or do I push ahead with my first endeavour and forgo the victory for yet another year?
And that's when the ante doubled.
I know what you're thinking. "Surely she can't be THAT crazy"
Well, actually... I am.
My challenge, put forth to myself, is to match, word for word, my NaNo novel with my re-write. A grand total of 100,000 words within the month of November to scratch off two major creative milestones from my to-do list*.
Can I do it? Will I survive? There will be weekly updates, lots of coffee, and, hopefully, my avid fans and faithful readers to hold me accountable.
Who wants to take the journey with me? Any takers?
We'll see how this goes.
*Donations to the cause will be taken in the form of chocolate, coffee, or other licensed forms of therapy.
