Nanowrimo

I'm going to write a novel. In 30 days. Call me crazy! I've signed up with www.nanowrimo.org. Write a novel in 30 days, just to say you've done it. 50,000 words. 175 pages. How hard can it be? ha, ha, ha, ha!

It's going to be about a woman. A young widow, who sells just about everything she owns, leaves city life behind, and goes to be a cook on a ranch somewhere remote. Should be utterly fascinating, I'm sure. :-)

I'll be kicking off bright and early on November 1, wish me luck!

I'm not sure why I feel compelled to do this. Am I bored with no Master's Thesis to procrastinate about? There's nothing hanging over my head at home, no big mental projects to work on. It's almost like school withdrawal. It's a little scary. I write some at work, but not anything big or fulfilling. I almost always have some kind of story floating around in my head. If I write it down, will it leave me? When I'm done, will I share it? Or will it be a private journey, a piece of myself too precious to part with?

Who will be my characters? I know someone who wrote a book, and based the characters on people she knew. Are people flattered by that, or do they look at the flaws in the character and wonder if the author sees those flaws in themselves?

Will my story have a plot? Will I screw it up? Long, long ago, I wrote a short story about a guy in a wheelchair. Halfway through the story he got up to answer the door. I forgot he was in a wheelchair. Oops! It's the careless mistakes that will get you every time, I suppose...

Well. It'll be a project, that's for sure. We'll see how I do!