Today seems to be formed of a migraine sandwich; I woke up with one, and I half-suspect that another one is forming. This sort of severely interferes with one’s attempt to brain, so I won’t be making a concerted effort at it. I will take a moment to offer my love and support to all my friends participating in NaNoWriMo, though!

What is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo, or (in)National Novel Writing Month is an annual challenge to write a new novel of 50,000 words in one month. As it says on the wiki article of the rules (’cause I can’t find it on the NaNo site right now):

‘Participants’ novels can be on any theme and in any genre, and in any language. Everything from fanfiction, which uses trademarked characters, to novels in poem format, and even metafiction is allowed; according to the website’s FAQ, “If you believe you’re writing a novel, we believe you’re writing a novel too.”^[9] Starting at midnight November 1, novels must reach a minimum of 50,000 words before 11:59:59 PM on November 30, local time.^[10] Planning and extensive notes are permitted, but no earlier written material can go into the body of the novel, nor is one allowed to start early and then finish 30 days from that start point.^[11]‘

In short, it’s a quantity over quality thing, and the actual scope of it grows every year. I know they offer free proofs of your novel now if you ‘win’ (complete 50,000 words or more and have it verified on site), which is pretty awesome. I do intend to participate some day… just y’know, a year when my brain isn’t trying to strangle me, or half the month isn’t dedicated to guests. At the least, I can encourage people to consider participating. After all, isn’t part of the American Dream to write the Great American Novel? I admit that I don’t know if that is part of the dream of any other country or culture specifically, but I do know we all have a story to tell. And what’s the risk of trying to write it, especially if you might get to see it in actual print? It seems pretty cool to me.

Me, I already know what story I’m going to write. Perhaps I’ll take the coming year to buckle down and actually get my prepwork laid out for next. I’ll run out of excuses eventually, right? >__>

Anyways, back to nursing my head – hope you guys are having a pleasant day.