Gearing Up For Nanowrimo!

I haven't been writing on my blog much lately. I miss it. However, there's been something else taking up my writing time lately...my novel!

Honestly, I am extremely stoked one minute and pumped to write, but then the next I am overwhelmed with fear of failure. This has pretty much been my entire month so far. That in addition to being sick and in over my head with protests from school budget cuts and transportation issues. The sick part is pretty self-explained, it seems to happen at least one every fall. The second, is a story for another day.

So here I am, taking a moment away from prepping my novel to get some perspective and give my brain a break.

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I am so excited about Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) this year! It is a worldwide challenge for authors to write 50,000 words in 30 days, which equates into a solid first draft of a novel. I have been prepping my novel all month and I am absolutely ready to for the 1st!

I have been looking forward to November for months now and I'm itching to get started. However, I want to try to find the balance between working on my novel and writing on my blog. There is just something about publishing on my blog that helps me feel connected and work out the conflicts going on in my mind. I have always considered writing my therapy and though I love creative writing through my novel, but I need this kind of writing too.

Although most of my thoughts lately are about writing, I still want to write them down and work through them because they are important, a part of who I am. I woke up this morning eager to write and when I sat down with good intentions I couldn't finish a thought or keep the characters and settings organized in my head. It was at this point that I realized that I haven't blogged hardly at all this month.

So here I am, writing on my blog again. This particular post doesn't have much consistency or substance, but I'm writing and communicating the thoughts in my head. Let's face it, sometimes the thoughts in our heads make little to no sense. But, by writing, the creative inspiration can come back to the surface and the chaos can remain at bay a little longer.

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I really appreciate all the people who ask how my novel is going. It is going really well! My goal is to write at least 50,000 words next month and finish my first draft by the end of the year. The next step is editing and revision, which will go through the summer. Then by the end of next summer I will be actively pursuing the publication of my novel. I am very excited about this upcoming year,

I love living through the story in my head. I am falling in love with my characters even as they fall in love with each other. Once I get a good amount written, I look forward to sharing an excerpt on this blog. I also look forward to using this medium to write about the process of writing. It isn't exactly what I thought it would be. In some ways it's easier and in some harder. I'll expand on this idea another day.

As for right now, I am thankful for this place to write and share my challenges and triumphs. Now I'm going to bid you adieu and go work on my novel some more.