The Greatest Time of Year

Well, the site has been made over for Christmas! I have time to do that now, since my novel is officially complete! That's right! 50,000 words in only 29 days this time! But I've got to move on to other goals before I get a sunburn basking in this triumph.

Lately, I've been volunteering at Rescue Ranch, a rehabilitation/adoption center for abused horses, in tune with goals #5 and #11. That means dodging the hooves of angry stallions and mucking out empty stalls while I jam out to the country station. Seems like a lot of work for only one volunteer hour a week. But I'll get my 125 hours one way or another.

I've also finally gotten a job, although I don't think it really counts for goal #2. I landed a gig babysitting for two grammar school cheerleaders and their six-year-old little sister. I can't really tell you if that's better or worse than volunteering at the horse shelter, but I do know that it at least pays. Goal #3, here we come...

And with Christmas cheer in the air, I'm getting ready to tackle several goals during the holiday season. I plan on volunteering at the retirement home over Christmas break (#4) and baking some holiday treats for my family and friends (#10 & 15). It's also the time of year for hot chocolate at the barn (#16) and stocking stuffers for my equine friends (#17). And as the presents and Christmas cards go out, I should be able to manage Goal #59 and at least some of Goal #18. Plus, all those presents need bows! (#76) It's also the time of year for spontaneous kindness, and I figure over the two week break that I get from school, I can fit in some Random Acts of Kindness (#83) and inspirational post-it notes (#88) and maybe even some more free rice (#95).

Now, I doubt I'll get to all of these in the 20 days left in the Christmas season or even the week or so that I have off following it, but if I at least get to half of them, I'm in pretty good shape for the New Year. And from there, who knows?

NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul

It's official. I now automatically check my word count on anything I'm writing every fifteen minutes. Like clockwork. Even on school essays.

I don't think I can last much longer. My novel, The Duct Tape Conspiracy, has no plot, and I have ten days to write 25,000 more words. FML. But at least my novel is amusing...

"This waiting game, she didn't like it. What was she supposed to do? Twiddle her thumbs and pretend that nothing had happened? But she had just pulled off the greatest heist in duct tape history! Someone, somewhere out to be talking out it.

Caden let out a frustrated huff. 'I need muffins.'"

"I'm so glad that you're singing softly to yourself. It really makes my ears bleed."

"I dressed up as Mayor Ray Nagin and gave a speech promoting the reinstitution of slavery."

"They're called the TIE DYE Police. ...They're way scarier than they sound, I swear."

"I'm not inviting y'all over anymore if Mr. Glitter keeps ending up in the freezer."

Let Your Imagination Rain

To me, October is nothing more than a head start into November. And November is the one month of the year when I am truly free to be myself. November, to me, does not mean the New Moon premier, Thanksgiving, or my sister's birthday (sorry, girl!). November means one thing and one thing only: NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.

I discovered NaNo a few years ago, and the idea of a month dedicated to writing a novel piqued my interest. I was one of those people who always said, "One day, I will write a book". But I'd never finished any short story, let alone a 50,000 word novella. I was also put off by the "No plot? No problem!" slogan adopted by NaNoWriMo. I thought, What's the point of writing a novel with no plot? The things I had read about NaNo were fairly misleading.

But NaNoWriMo is not some structureless "churn out 50,000 random words" kind of thing. It is very much an event where you will get out of it as much as you put in. November 2008 (yes, last year) was my first time participating in National Novel Writing Month. November 2008 was also the start of the biggest journey of my life.

I put my heart and soul into November last year, and The Circular Path, my complete, coherent, first-ever novel, is the least that I got out of it. I went from an insecure, over-critical, dubious girl with one scene in my head to strong, passionate dreamer who has tapped into a well of creativity. NaNoWriMo taught me who I was, not just as a writer, but as a human being. Through NaNo, I discovered the essence of me: the core of my fears, the heart of my longings, the source of my passions. I began to see the person that I was, the person that I am, and the person that I want to be.

That journey- the journey of disovering me- is far from over. In fact, it's going to restart again, more vigorous than ever, in just 27 days. Just being on the NaNoWriMo homepage fills me with a sense of peace, of pride, of invincibility. It fills me with the sense of being me.

All hail the thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon.

This speaks for itself.