Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, Start Your Fingers. (NaBloPoMo 1?)

I suppose I could say "Start your pens" as well, because I have heard of brave participants in NaNoWriMo who have written their novels in longhand with nothing but a good pen and a legal pad. I might have imagined approaching it that way at one time — just for the sheer challenge of it — but that day probably passed twenty years ago.

I'm just a cheerleader for NaNoWriMo this year, due to a number of circumstances. I know that I've only truly paricipated in NaNoWriMo once, last year, and I'm not sure how doing something once somehow signifies some sort of tradition. But it honestly feels weird to not be doing this again this year. And hard too, considering that I actually have two or three really good ideas for new novels.

One of the biggest reasons that I'm not doing the thirty-day run this year is because I have not yet finished Son of a Saint. My buddy Jason recommended that I shouldn't go attacking a new project of this size until the old one is done — and he should know, having worked for two NaNoWriMos on his novel before completing it. Yes, I could have spent this November finishing up last year's, but with a second freelance job going, these late-evening hours are spent doing other work that is more necessary than knocking out a book.

But that's not to say that I can't do something during this month in NaNo's memory:

• I can dedicate at least a little time each day this month to doing something on Son of a Saint. Over the last year, I have made copious notes on unfinished sections of the novel, and I have a long list of holes that need to be filled in the story. I will devote some thought to this.
  
  
• I can also post here and do my own version of the writing-every-day alternative, NaBloPoMo. Somehow I managed to do that last year in addition to NaNoWriMo. So why not give it a try? Plus, it'll give my buddy Jason something to do after he knocks off work on his new novel in the Pacific time zone.
  
  
• I can continue working on a number of short stories I've written over the past year, preparing them for publication.

In fact, just this evening I finished a fourth (and final, I think) draft of a short story I'll be submitting to Glimmer Train in their "Family" competition. I'm sure my chances are slim for a win, place, or show. But it's about getting it out there and seeing what happens right now.

So I won't write a novel this year. But I'll be cheering some of you on, and I look forward to reading excerpts over at the NaNoWriMo site. Good luck to all of you! I'm here to tell you that it's a worthy challenge.