NaNoWriMo - Ready?

Are you ready? One week left until the madness begins!

Isn't it funny how a month ago, November was a clean slate? Soccer ends for the season the first Saturday in Nov. YES! Other than Thanksgiving, it seemed like a rather calm month. Except now, I have 2 separate family get togethers (one's a sleepover) apart from Thanksgiving. Okay. No problem. I'll either write like the wind earlier that day, or write extra on another. *sweating* Oh yeah, two FOUR night school events I have to attend (cutting into prime writing time) and then of course, Black Friday (gone from 5am until I drop - usually around 3ish). *panicking*

Now, it may sound as if I'm lining up excuses in case I don't reach 50k. And you'd be right about that. Just kidding. But it does go to show that you don't have to lead a life of leisure to participate in the NaNo. You just need a passion of writing, the willingness to challenge yourself, and snacks...lots and lots of snacks.

I'm still in the getting ready mode. I've started a rather lame outline which I'll be working on this week. Tomorrow, I'll hit the office supply store for way cool motivational tools (mechanical pencils, highlighters, post-its, notebook, neon post-its).

All this week Nathan Bransford is featuring NaNoWriMo posts to help prepare participants. His first post is here if you'd like to check it out. So let's hear it. If you're joining in the insanity fun, how are you getting yourself ready? If you're not, you'll be in a much better state of mind than me at the end of November. Oh, and how will you cheer us NaNoWriMo-ers on?

The Last Hurrah

In six days I'll be returning to work and need to get some things done before then. I love lists. I especially love crossing things off lists. Unfortunately, I get a bit enthusiastic and ambitious, adding things I just know I'll never get to. And this one is the same. My hope is that if put it on the blog it will guilt me into accomplishing most, if not all of it.

1. Declutter my room. I really need to do this!
2. Clean out 2 closets. Long overdue.
3. Iron back-to-school-and-work clothes
4. Label school stuff and pack backpacks
5. Finish weeding my garden. I'm halfway there!
6. Go out for Chinese food with friend. I need some fun in the middle of all this, right?
7. Color my gray stripe which is reaching the inch mark.
8. Write 10,000 words this weekend. Say what?

In the spirit of jumping on the bandwagon and riding into the sunset with dreams of finishing this first draft, I sort of committed myself to a writing challenge.

Sigh. Do I ever learn?

Over at Nathan's, one member started a Labor Day Weekend Write-Off. Set a goal and write like crazy for 3 days. Kind of like a mini NaNoWriMo. 10,000 words in 3 days sounded like a good idea at the time. I've never written that amount in such a short time but I'm going to give it a try. A last hurrah as the end of summer approaches. Sure, I could edit my post. I mean, would anyone really notice if I changed the amount to, oh, I don't know, 5,000 words? But no, I'll stick to my original goal (with the cloud of humiliation when I report back hanging over my head if I don't at least come within range). Speaking of end of summer hurrahs, I need to add one more thing to my list.

9. Take the family out for a long drive ending in icecream. No word count is going to take that away from me!