In 2006, when I lived in Dayton and was part of a local writers’ group, I participated in the National Novel Writing Month challenge: complete a 50K word novel in 30 days (that’s about 1667 words per day or about 7 pages double-spaced). Several of us took on the challenge, checked-in with each other both online and at our regular meeting spot (Panera Bread) and toasted each other with hot chocolates when we met the word-count goal. It was crazy, it was tiring. But the beauty of writing so many words in a limited time is that there is no time to think! You write and let the crazy plot twists and quirky characters form the novel.

I participated in NaNo in ’07, ’08, and ’09, all three times writing close to 30K words. Last year, my sister got married, and writing a novel was simply unfeasible. This year, just a few days shy of the 1 November start date, I remain undecided.

We’ve been working on different writing prompts in class, and I have a shiny new cast of characters to work with–either my zombie infestation crew or my love triangle families (although I have a feeling spending 30 days with the latter group may be a bit of a bummer). Not to mention fall term wraps up at the end of November, and there is much schoolwork to complete.

I’ll see how I feel after I raid the kids’ Halloween candy. Chocolate and sugar make the daunting seem doable…