THE NaNoWriMo SURVIVAL KIT

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo, the November writing marathon.  To meet the 50,000 word goal by the end of the month, the writer needs to average 1667 words per day.  I aim for a total of 2000 to make up for days when I'm busy and don't hit my quota or (gasp) don't write at all.  This morning I wrote just short of 1800 words.  And I pretty much used up all the ideas that have been floating around my brain the last two weeks.  What the hell am I gonna write about tomorrow?!?  Now I remember why every year at the end of NaNoWriMo I say "never again."  Time to break out the supplies...

** Unrelated note:  I do not control the content of the ads on my website.  In particular, I want it to be known that any political ads are not an endorsement by me.  I've had candidates from both political parties show up in ads and I don't want readers to think I'm pushing an agenda one way or another.  If you disagree with a candidate shown, please don't hold it against me.  Depending on who it is, I may not like him/her either. 

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:

* The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

* NaBloPoMo vs. NaNoWriMo

NaBloPoMo

No, it isn't the latest government agency or a newly diagnosed ailment you can treat with medication.  NaBloPoMo stands for "National Blog Posting Month".  It was inspired by NaNoWriMo (or "National Novel Writer's Month"), which also takes place each November.  In the latter the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.  It doesn't have to be good.  In fact, it's almost a badge of honor to NOT write well, since the goal is simply to write and not mix the creative side with the editor.  I've completed NaNoWriMo several times and by Thanksgiving I'm so desperate to be done I resort to 4th grade book report-stretching techniques (such as writing "can not" instead of the one-word "can't" or saying the protagonist was "really, really, really, really mad.")  I would gain five pounds from late-night candy binges and roar with anger at every interruption.

The Vulcan reacts badly to my latest
writing project

My husband, The Vulcan, was thrilled when I informed him I would not be taking part in the annual torture of NaNoWriMo.  His seldom-seen smile quickly faded when I told him I decided to take part in NaBloPoMo instead.  The goal of NaBloPoMo is simply to write a blog post a day for the entire month of November.  Of course, my goal would be to write a daily post that is pithy, erudite, wonderfully obnoxious or informative.  Unfortunately I imagine many of my posts will come to resemble a blogging version of the aforementioned 4th grade report-stretching.  Some days I may be scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with something to write about, so don't be shocked if you end up reading about my (successful) efforts to cure my cats' mid-summer peeing-on-the-stairs problem or how I plan to keep my hound dog from chewing up the Christmas presents. 

The NaBloPoMo prompt of the day is:

What is your favorite part about writing?

My answer, unfortunately, is "when it's done."  Good-bye until tomorrow, my friends.