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I am NaNoWriMo-ing again this year. I am only 10,000 words behind, so I think I might go insane, but I have to try this year.

Last year, I did not win. This simply means I did not reach my word count goal (50,000 words in 30 days). You don’t actually win anything tangible, though you do get a cool “winner” widget on your blog (look to the right, you’ll see my pathetic word count meter). The O man compared it to winning Dancing with the Stars: “You don’t win a million dollars or a recording contract, you just win it for pride and a trophy.” Wise beyond his years, that one…

I didn’t like my novel last year. I had a great idea that involved a heaping helping of research, and NaNoWriMo is not the time to take on that kind of challenge. So I failed miserably and spent the year with my tail between my legs.

This year I didn’t even think about what to write about, mostly because somehow it escaped me that November comes after October, and November is National Novel Writing Month. I even forgot for the first couple of days of November, until my brother posted something about what he was doing instead of NaNoWriMo.

I started writing something when we lived in Hong Kong. The actual writing was crap, but at the heart of it was a decent story, so I am starting from scratch with that idea. That way, I don’t need an outline (though who am I kidding, I never outline anyway).

I have only won NaNoWriMo once before. That little exercise left me with the Novel?, which  I will someday revise. Sure, just like someday I’ll actually knit a sweater.

Sorry, I need a moment to finish laughing…

So I may be writing on the Blahg a lot in the coming month, as a way to procrastinate, or I might be silent until this whole crazy exercise is over. There’s no telling until I really get into the thick of things.

Wish me luck.