It's WriMo Time

What's that you ask?

NaNoWriMo.

It's one of the most fun things I do all year.  It's also one of the most challenging.

For the month of November, a couple hundred thousand people all around the world accept the novel writing challenge.  50,000 words or better in a month.

At the end you have a draft.  You have a sense of accomplishment.  You have the confidence that you can actually do this insane writing thing.

At the end, your family and friends get you back.

In our house, I sort of check out in a big way for the month.  I spend a lot of time, fingers to keys, mind elsewhere, talking to imaginary people.  I live their story with them as we tell it, word by word.

Laundry gets done haphazardly.  So does any kind of shopping or errands.  Phone calls and forms get forgotten and I find I apologize quite a bit.  I ignore texts and emails and get a little more caffeinated than normal.  I story tell without looking back, checking my spelling or correcting my punctuation.

We eat a lot of frozen dinners, quick dinners, take out dinners and just plain odd dinners.  I have high hopes for a lot of soup in the crock pot this month, but it could very well end up being a lot of pb&j sammies.  I mumble to myself and have notes everywhere.  Pens and paperclips in pockets.

My family is very kind and patient while I crawl into a hole with my imaginary friends.  I stare out the window, wrap in blankets, stay up late and wander the hall while I think.  When I'm out doing things, I am not observant.  I will not see you and when you talk to me I'll be listening, but from inside my story mind.

I don't know yet if I'll blog my way through or not.  It's too soon to tell.  It will depend on time.  It will depend on some real life situations happening.  It will depend on how many thoughts I can hold in my mind and keep organized all at once.

One more thought.  If you see me here or on Facebook or wherever and I'm talking about the story, the writing or word counts, I promise you, I'm not bragging or seeking attention.  It's like coming up for air while swimming.  It's a look at the horizon to see where I'm at.  It's accountability that I am actually doing what I say I'm doing.  Sometimes I'm looking for encouragement or a little assurance that I'm not the only one attempting this crazy challenge.

If you are amused and want to follow along, there is also a word count widget on the side bar and you can track my progress.  Whenever I update my word count on the NaNoWriMo site it updates here too.