Anita asked what NaNoWriMo is. Here is a brief explanation.

Basically, it's a group of crazy people who try, every November, to pen a 50,000 word novel. There has to be a plot and a reason, but the focus is just to get the words down on paper (or computer, as many WriMos are apt to do). There are challenges, groups, Write Ins, wars, all all sorts of supports.  At this point, the goal isn't to write a GOOD novel; it's just to get it down. It can be edited later.

Last year, I started NaNoWriMo the same month my business fell apart. It was a bad month all around, and the beginning of a real spiritual and mental health battle for me. I didn't succeed. I didn't do well at all, in fact. When I went on the mission trip, it took out so many days of my writing, that I just quit. I regret that, because I can't redo a NaNoWriMo novel already started.

But see, I have this secret. On my desktop, I have a locked file of all the books I want to write, just running around my head. This year, starting mid-October, I grabbed the synopsis of the one that piqued my interest the most, and I went to work outlining. My outline is vague. I know my characters, I know my setting, and I know what story I want to tell. But when I sit down at the computer, I just let my fingers dance across the keyboard. I don't re read. I don't clarify. I just write. I think that's the goal.

Anyway, I just finished my first complete day, and I am over my goal for the day. I'm losing in my word war with Pattie, but I will be making up ground as time rolls on.  I hear Angela's writing again, too!

So, if I'm particularly quiet this month, it doesn't neccessarily mean I'm away from my keyboard. In fact, I'm probably right at my keyboard, pounding the letters, pouring out my heart in my story. Maybe someday, I'll let you see what I've written!