Hurriance Sandy, Meet NaNoWriMo

For the last three days, I have been without power. 

Let me open the book on that statement; for the last three days, I have been savoring each check on Facebook, knowing it would consume portions of my cellphone battery I may need for an emergency. The last three days have put myself and my family cut off from the world, leaving nothing but silence and whatever our neighbors may care to tell us.

In a nutshell, I'm going INSANE. 

Can you believe I completely forgot today is Halloween? Two weeks ago, I was getting so giddy for the 31st, planning a video blog dressed in my Hogwarts costume, or putting in my fangs for a little vampire show. I had make-up planned to perfection, a small sheet of terrible one-liners to use in my video, and even showcase a part of Riven in it. Now, I'm merely savoring the internet I can borrow, scrambling to get this post out with everything that was intended to go live on Tuesday. 

Hurricane nightmare or not, most of us East-Coasters are still planning on participating in one of the best writing face-offs ever; NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, as it stands for. In 30 days, 50k in words towards a draft, completed novel, or random writing excursion pour from the fingers of thousands eager to tell a story, to revel in the craft of world building and character development. 

And I, hurricane or not, am participating. 

While most go for the idea of finishing a novel, however, I am not. I'm going into this with the intention of the following: 

1- Possibly finishing Unwanted's first draft. It's a little shaky right now, and could use some stabilizing. 

2- Storyboard all of A Shard of Ice and its novellas, finish at least one novella. 

3- Complete my short story in time for the November 11th deadline for MHAFH's charity anthology. Rayne, Ken, and the Echomiron, which still needs a title. 

All three of those are HUGELY important, and at the least number 3 needs to happen regardless. If I manage to finish a full novel (Unwanted) before November 30th, awesome, great. If not, I won't be heartbroken. 

Each week I will post a round-up of articles I find on various other blogs about NaNo, as well as post my current progress. This post will go up like clockwork (!) each Monday in November. I may or may not also have a guest post from a fellow NaNoer author if I can manage. Until then, game on NaNoers. Don't forget, tonight is a big night. At midnight, we rush to fill the first daily quota of 1,667 words or more, and do so with a leap in our hearts, or whatever motivation garble you read for it. 

Point is, write, you NaNo Nuts. Write, and stare the power outages Sandy has created with an eye of challenge.