All NaNo's Eve

We’re here at the last two days of October, which means two different things to different kinds of people. Some of us have both kinds of people inside of us. Both kinds of people have been prepping for this for months…or they’ve left everything till the last minute.

The first person has decorated their house with spider webs, carved-out pumpkins, and lights just right for spooking trick-or-treaters.

The second person has decorated their house with plot webs, carved-out writing nooks, and lights just right for late-night ideas.

The first person has gone out to buy enough candy to satisfy the child’s sweet tooth.

The second person has gone out to buy enough coffee to keep them awake to finish their word count.

The first person has found the perfect costume that accentuates their personality, and may even have a partner or group to costume with.

The second person has found the perfect environment that accentuates their creativity, and may even have a partner or group to cheer them on.

The first person has watched movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloweentown, and Hocus Pocus to get them in the spooky spirit.

The second person has read books and blogs and fanfics to get them into the writing spirit.

The first person is obviously your average, everyday Halloween celebrator.

The second person is not so obviously, and definitely not average, NaNoWriMo-er.

Some may wonder what NaNoWriMo is. Others know about it, but don’t feel quite equipped to partake in it. Then there are those, like myself, that love doing it, have done it for years, and still don’t feel quite equipped to partake in it.

Yet, year after year, we make our 30-day trudge through the month of November towards 50,000 words. New ideas spring up all over the place, and some of us don’t even know what we’re going to write about until November 1st.

And when we’ve reached the 28th of the month and still have 15,000 words to go, the remaining word count is scarier to us than anything we faced a month ago. Like the heroes in our favorite stories, we find that extra store of resolve deep within us and break past the wall of fear and doubt.

If you’re interested in going for it this year, or just want to learn more about the event, check out https://nanowrimo.org.

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This will be the first in my series for National Novel Writing Month. Each week I will have a new post reflecting on my own word count, idea inspirations, and more.

This year my NaNo will focus on parallel universes, a group of misfits, and the power that lay within them.