NaBloPoMo 2010 ... #1: Away we go!

Well, it's that time again. Time to face off against The Great Unfinished Draft™ and see if I can fill enormous holes of the novel I started in November 2007. Time to kvetch and whine about it here in daily posts, along with occasional forays into other topics (album reviews, book reviews, ruminations, "memoirs," blathering, etc.). Time to see, if only for one month each year, I can be as consistently "prolific" (and, God help me, a tad more interesting) than I was in my diary 32 years ago, when nothing much else happened except bowling, cheap magic tricks, and Dodger updates.

For the uninformed, November brings two events: National Novel Writing Month (shortened to NaNoWriMo), when (literally) hundreds of thousands around the world take to the task of setting down at least 50,000 words of The Next Great Manuscript to Gather Dust in a Desk Drawer; and National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), when those of us who have ignored our blogs for most of the rest of the year try to put together one measly post per day.

I suppose that, technically, I haven't been ignoring Instant Comma. But somehow simply transcribing three-decades-old pen scrawls seems like cheating. So I'll try to put together a few words here every day, in addition to the exciting November of 13-year-old Mark Bailey. (Spoiler alert: New girlfriend arriving soon!)

I'll probably have more success at the "BloPo"part of this than the "NoWri" part. (I don't know how I got in the habit of doing both NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo, but those of you who know me are probably just nodding your heads in the knowledge that I typically over-reach.) The novel is in a serious rut: I'm painted into corners; I haven't a clue what comes in certain areas; I'm doubting the verisimilitude of certain major characters. But somehow I still wholeheartedly believe in my premise, I see the promise of certain constructs, and I think that if I can just write my way out of some of the problems I might save this thing yet. Will that garner me 1,667 words a day? Not likely, especially with my limited free time, compared to 2007. But if I manage to make good headway on finishing the "shitty first draft" (danka, Anne Lamott), I'll consider it my victory.

To my friends (and one family member!) taking on NaNoWriMo, I will be cheering you on! Good luck to all of you! Turn off that inner editor and let those fingers fly. You'll be surprised how quickly you reach the 50K finish line.