nanowrimo fever

Am I crazy? I just commited myself to nanowrimo -- you all know what that is by now, right? National Novel Writing Month, for the unaware. (And it started today) You write a 50,000 word novel in one month, and that's all there is to it. But 'all there is to it' means I'll be writing an average of 1,666 words per day. I am crazy.

I actually did this once before, in 2002. My sister and I joined nanowrimo, and we each finished our novels in 30 days. In 26 days, actually. We finished early. (Because of a deadline we couldn't get out of. Otherwise, I would have been up til midnight on November 30th.) We were fueled on by fellow Arizonan Stacey Cochran, who actually had a published novel under his belt. He doesn't know us and we don't know him, but we could not, could NOT let him finish his novel before we did. And I actually wrote a novel. A very bad, amateurish novel, but a novel, all the same.

But that was three years ago. That was when I was young, had energy, had no obligation to anyone or anything. However, a while back, John and I discussed nanowrimo, and we both decided to go for it. I forgot all about it. I didn't plan a plot, characters, nothing. But today, John said, "I signed up for nanowrimo. Did you?" I panicked. I can't write a novel! I don't have it in me!

But I didn't want to go back on my word. I said I would do it with him, and so I will. And thus far, I've got a page-and-a-half written. 521 words, to be exact. 1,145 words to go. I don't know if I can do it, but I'm suddenly excited to take on the challenge.