Taking the plunge

Yes, that's right my friends, I am taking the plunge into NaNoWriMo.  For the past few years I had seen my friends (both of the RL and Internet variety) blogging about participating in this mysterious NaNoWriMo thing.  I was not sure what it was.  Eventually I figured out it had to do with writing, but that was about it.  Now, since entering the wonderful world of book blogging, I have finally figured it out.  So here I am officially signed up for my first year of participation.  At first I was excited that I would have a challenge that could help me finish my book.  Then I read the fine print (you really should do that before signing up for things.)  I can't use my current writing project for NaNo!  I have to start fresh with something new.  Oh noes!!!  My lighthearted paranormal romp needs more work.  It is not nearly done.  I am focused.  I am determined. And they want me to start something new?  Crazy talk! 

::deep breath::

OK, I can do this.  I can make this work.  So now I have a plan for the month of October: write the heck out of my current project (let's see how many words I can get up to) and plan out writing project #2 for NaNoWriMo.  That is a ton of writing.  I just hope I don't burn out before November 1st.  I wrote a little over 4500 words over the past two days.  Tonight I have decreed that there will be no writing.  I will take a break and work on developing my hero for the NaNo project.  Tomorrow?  Writing.  Thursday?  Develop heroine.  Friday?  Fun time with the girls!  Saturday?  See Friday :)  And then back to the writing.  A little bit of fun. A little bit of planning. Some decent writing time.  Hopefully it will all balance out to me being ready to go full tilt on November 1st.

The really exciting part is that I think I have convinced a couple of the teachers at my school to have their students participate in the NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program.  It looks like tons of fun.  The kids get to set a personal word count goals.  There is a writing workbooks that even I want to use to plan my book.  Seriously, this thing has writing activities to develop their characters, setting, internal and external conflict, plot, and just about anything else you can think of.  The only drawback is that they only have a PDF file of the workbook.  You can't purchase hard copies for the students.  Each book is 85 pages long.  That is a whole lot of copies to make.  It will take some creative planning, but I think it is doable between using the overhead projector, power point, and selective copying.  I am considering telling the students that I am participating and challenging them to try and beat my word count.  It would certainly give me the drive I need to write.  How embarrassing would it be to be out-written by a 6th grader?