polka dot suitcase

Even if you’re not a writer, doubtless you’ve heard of NaNoWriMo, right-o? National Novel Writing Month. Every November, people around the world sharpen their pencils and dive in to seek fame and fortune as a novelist. They’ve got 30 days to crank out 50,000 words — the first rough draft of a novel. Edits and revisions? Some other month.

Every year, I sign up for NaNo. Every year, I crank out 50,000 words. And every year, I save the file and then never look at it again. Have I failed? I don’t think so. I cranked out truly awful first drafts, just like I was supposed to. I just never did anything more with them. But the way I see it — because writers are exceptional at justification — now that I’ve got a good half-dozen “first” novels written, that means I should be getting better at this fiction stuff.

So I’m in for this year’s NaNo fun. If you’re in, buddy me (kmreilly7) and we’ll go NaNoWhamO together. Uh…that didn’t come out right…