Who's Afraid of NaNoWriMo?

Every November is haunted with the ghosts of "would have, should have, could have." I hate November.

Triple Cities, New York

True, at the end of October, it is Halloween in the United States.  Everything is decorated, including our local farmers market, but those decorations remind us of our own mortality.  The more ghoulish ones, anyway.


November is also a time to face the demons of the writer.  Should I join NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month) once again?  And, if I do, will I ever face the ghosts of my three previous NaNoWriMo manuscripts and try to edit them into some kind of manuscript worthy to bring into the world of the living?  Am I good enough?  Is my writing adequate?  Do I really have something of worth to tell the world?

Am I afraid of failure?  Am I afraid of not finishing the course - 50,000 words worth of free writing in 30 days?  It isn't easy but I've done it three times.  It's the "after" that is just as scary.  Doing something with that manuscript.  Taking that 50,000 words of free writing and carving and shaping it into something worthy of showing the world.

My demons ask "Are you afraid of success?"  Maybe.  So I gather my courage up and declare to you, my readers.

There's a book I've been thinking of writing.  It isn't fiction, and it isn't getting written.

Now's my chance to start.  Any number of words is better than zero number of words.

Here are the official rules of NaNoWriMo (I hope they don't mind copying and pasting):

• Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
• Only count words written during November. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people's works).
• Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you're writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
• Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
• Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.

And if you break rules, which I have done already (writing non-fiction), you are called a rebel, and you are welcome.  What I do is rebel.  I do not cheat.  My words are my words, they are written only in November, and I stand by my word counts.

So, I look my demons in their blazing red eyes.  I will do NaNoWriMo this November.  Maybe a non fiction book in the wrapper of a fiction book.  That fiction book?  The coming of age story of a teenaged girl in the New York City of 2076, starting over with an idea I had two years ago, but making major changes. The non fiction content?  It's a secret.  But I've love you to join me.

My name on NaNoWriMo is "RamblinWritr".

Do you plan to try NaNoWriMo this year?

Day 30 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.