Because I am a wild man, I like doing crazy things. Next month, I am going to try to crank out a novel.
Fortunately, I will not suffer this madness in isolation. This November, at least 100,000 insane folks from around the world will try to accomplish the same. This sorry lot will suffer unbearable finger cramps, succumb to Cheeto addiction, and spend countless hours procrastinating in front of old episodes of Buffy and The Wire in the name of “inspiration”–all so that they can say, “I wrote a novel!” And when they’ve accomplished this noble deed, their closest friends and family will gather around and embrace them and voice doubts about their value as future employees and marital material.
Welcome to NaNoWriMo, or interNational Novel Writing Month. Basically, the goal is to power out a 50,000 word novel between 11/01/09 12:00:01 am and 11/30/09 11:59:59 pm (inclusive). Considering that there are 43,200 minutes in November, this means we only need to write a little over one word per minute and we’re done! Easy-peasy, as Jana always says.
What’s really exciting is that my offspring will join me in this mini-asylum! I learned last week that both GameBoy and CatGirl decided to do this, without any influence from me (this disorder must be passed through the genes). GameBoy is doing this with the writing club at his high school, and this will actually be CatGirl’s third NaNoWriMo campaign.
At this point, I know of only one other person who will be doing this. (Hi Christie!) If you’re planning on going crazy this November, let me know! Let us not suffer alone.
Also, let me know if you’re interested in reading my story as I generate it. Let me warn you ahead of time: if all goes well, your inbox will receive a daily dump of about 2,000 words per day of pure schlock. I’m not joking: it will be the most one-dimensional, confusing, clichéd, contradictory, rambling, adjective and adverb-heavy, oh-my-god-all-these-characters-sound-exactly-the-same, and rambling (did I mention rambling) steaming liquid verbal excrement you’ve ever read. (Wasn’t that a convincing sales pitch!) But that’s ok, because half the reason for NaNoWriMo is to get us over the artist’s greatest enemy: our own self-criticism.
Essentially, I’m thinking of this NaNoWriMo like a sculptor’s first pass at a hunk of clay. The final product will start to take basic shape, but entire portions may be redone from scratch, and there’s still a lot smoothing and refining and reshaping that needs to be done. The first step may be unappealing, but it’s a necessary step on the way to the final masterpiece.
So, this isn’t a promise that I will share, but drop me a line if you crave a daily dose of story. I reserve the right to be selective, depending on who and how many of you want in. You wouldn’t be required to read it, but I would expect you to hold any critique until December (and common sense stuff like not sharing it, etc.)
Anyhow, wish us luck in our collective madness!
