Letters from the Front Line

I know it's been quite a while since I posted...more than two weeks, I think, but those days fly by when you're in the trenches, trying to crawl your way to the neutral zone and maybe take a rest after spending your days pushing the front lines.

By trenches, I mean the couch where I sit with my laptop to write. And by the neutral zone, I mean the point in NaNoWriMo where you can finish the 50,000 words required within the span of the month. I was doing pretty well at first, but after a week of air raids in Precalculus and other belligerent forces I had to take a few days and deal with the fighters.

So, World War II references aside and long story short, I'm behind in NaNo.

Again.

But not all of this madness and chaos is bad. Bn the plus side, this is one of the first times that I've been able to proudly say that I am in love with being this busy. Because now that I have the NaNo project (Pulse) to work on, it becomes that much more pertinent that I do my homework, eat, take a shower, do everything in a more efficient way. I'm forcing myself to get organized so I can write.

For those of you who are doing NaNo, what has changed in your lives for this crazy month where you try and squeeze 1,667 words into a document in a day? Positive, negative, neither?

And for everyone who isn't doing NaNo, what do you think about the idea as someone who isn't participating. Are we all just crazy? (Probably.) Does this sound like a fun idea? (That's iffy.) Do you think we're all sleep-deprived and running on fumes? (Most definitely.)

I hope everyone's projects, literary or otherwise, are doing well!

Finger cramps and ink smudges,
Brie

Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Well, I guess it's not really wicked. It's just one of a writer's longest and craziest holidays of the year. It's like an enormous Holiday party with all of your favorite people with all of their favorite characters. There's dancing, drinking, general partying, and the always-amazing after party.

I, of course, am referring to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, which comes in ten days. I'm quaking with excitement just by typing this. Or maybe it's the caffeine.

NaNoWriMo isn't really a party, in fact most of it is spent with you and your laptop. But there is drinking and dancing, by which I mean fingers dancing over keys as you strive to make your 1,667 word benchmark every day and drinking a blur of caffeine-laced sodas, coffees, and nameless energy drinks to keep yourself awake to continue writing until your fingers go numb. The aforementioned parties come on the first of December, where you celebrate the word count you finish with, 50,000 or not, and the after party of meeting up again with your real-life author friends and talking about your crazy month-long writefest.

Not to mention a great prize: Those who complete 50,000 words receive five free copies of their books published, just like real manuscripts. I've already started a list of who my five copies go to. I can't wait.

But for those of you who don't write, NaNo isn't a straight month of being cooped up in the house writing by yourself in the dead of night. It really is a great time. I have a bunch of friends doing it: Hannah, Frankie, Meg, and a bunch of others. There are write-ins where NaNo authors come to a place and write together, like in Paneras and my 'writing home', Thurber House, the house of author and cartoonist James Thurber. It's an old Victorian home full of old pianos, even older couches, and a resident ghost. It's a writer's paradise.

So if you see people hurrying around with bags under their eyes, their fingers twitching as they clamp a Starbucks cup, know that those are probably some of my fellow authors who are working to accomplish a full-length novel manuscript in a month. Give them a nod, or even a cup of coffee if you're feeling generous. Who knows, they might be in the process of creating the next big thing.

Falling leaves and black cats,
Brie