National Novel Writing Month, November 2007

Like millions of people, I dream of writing novels for a living.

A big, beautiful home by water with huge yard and a little air-conditioned shed away from the house where I would write my blockbusters.

Oprah would love me and give me lots of free press and I'd start the winter fires in the fireplace with hundred dollar bills.

Then the press would find out I'm a conservative and the dream would crash and burn but it would have been fun while it lasted, ya know?

Each November is the month that some of us wanna-bees write an entire novel of at least 50,000 words.

The rules are simple.

Start the first words on the 1st of November and by midnight of November 30th have written at least 50,000 words, even if you aren't quite finished.

Last year was my first year to try it. You are allowed to do character sketches and outlines and so forth before you start, but you know me, I just sat at the computer with nothing prepared before hand and shot from the hip. An entire novel.

It was a stupid book but every word and character was original and I didn't cheat one little bit.

In times past I couldn't "write" on a computer or typewriter. I wasn't a good enough typist and the effort of typing distracted me and caused me to lose my train of thought and I would give up, grab a nice pen and some paper and write that way.

But early 2006 I started this blog. While that's no big deal, then or now, but the act of writing on a keyboard so much for day after day after day paid off by allowing me the freedom to "write" into the computer and allow me to participate for the first time in National Novel Writing Month last November.

I felt as if I had been set free from a huge weight, not from the pressure of writing a book, but that it's one thing to fancy yourself a writer, or to dream of writing a novel and another thing entirely to actually complete the task, regardless of how bad the work is.

As I said, my book stunk to high heaven, and I won't EVER allow it to see daylight, but I was excited that I was able to prove to myself that I could start and finish a novel.

In fact it was easier than I would have ever thought possible. Even when I had no idea what to write, just reading the last of the previous day's entry would have ideas popping into my massive cranium and I would take off on that day's writing.

Due to the constraints of life there were a few days that I didn't write at all, but on my makeup days I would pound out 5,000 or more words and totally amaze myself.

Let this post serve as notice to my loyal fan(s) that my posting here might be spotty during November.

Who knows, all that writing may make posting blog posts easier instead of harder. Hopefully the air around me will be thick with inspiration.

If you are interested to see what this is all about, they have a web site. Just click on the icon at the top of this post and it will take you there and you can see what all the hubub is about.

Since National Novel Writing Month is such a mouth full, us writer types usually just call it NaNoWriMo.

Lovely Wife is all for the huge house by the water with big yard and is wondering when that part of the dream shows up. (And I'm sure that if Big Sis is reading this she's wondering where her and Long Suffering Brother In Law's new cars are.)

Hey, at least I cleaned and straightened up My Man Corner on Sunday.

You can't rush greatness.

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On John's Daily Digital Images today, I posted a couple of photos that I took of President Reagan in 1983. Check 'em out.