NaNoWriMo

I recently participated in a blogging half-marathon on my other blog.  Since I completed that, I decided that I would go ahead and take a leap.  Starting today, I will be participating in the NaNoWriMo.  If you aren't familiar with this, it stands for National Novel Writing Month.  It is much as it sounds.  A month of individuals writing novels, across the nation.  The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by November 30th.  Maybe that sounds crazy, but if you break it down by the day, it takes just 1,667 words each day.

So, I am up for the challenge.  Busy with the new job, writing my blogs, juggling schedules, and all.  I will write on my lunch break.  I've needed something to do anyway for an hour, and now I have NO excuses.  I can write some mornings before I go to work.  I can write on the weekend.  I can write whenever and wherever I choose, really.


The reason I am even writing all of this today is because of a funny conversation I had with Olivia last night.  I told her I was going to write a book.  She asked what it was about.  I explained it was about a little girl, who was very scared.  She started complaining that it was mean for me to write about a scared little girl.  I assured her that my hope was that in the end, she would find a way to a safer place, where she wasn't afraid anymore.

And then she piped up with "A place like Candyland?"

Laughing, I said, "Sure.  Candyland..."

So anyway...that's the plan for the month of November.  If you want to keep track of my progress, you can find me on nanowrimo.org  If you are on there, and want to be my buddy (whether you are participating this year or not), find me.  My username is love2cook10.  I'd love to follow you on your journey as well.  By the way, I let the kids pick the initial names.

This family needs a last name - any thoughts?

You can find an excerpt from my book on nanowrimo.org now, but in case you have no intention of going over there, here it is:

“Are the doors locked?” I asked Corbin, not for the first time that night.

He answered, sighing with exasperation, “Yes.  You already asked me that.”  Under his breath, he muttered sarcastically, “Five times already…”

Nervously, I probed further, “Both of them?”

Never mind that I had already checked each of the doors myself.  Once after we put our twins, Elisabeth and Morgan, to bed.  Again after I went to the kitchen to make myself a Fuzzy Navel, my drink of preference.  And then again, as Corbin and I headed to our bedroom for the night.  But I had to know.

This was, after all, our nightly ritual.

Corbin rolled his eyes, but still responded by saying, “Yes, Lily.  Can we go to bed now?”  Reluctantly, I climbed into bed, knowing that it would be hours still before sleep would finally come to me.  Meanwhile, Corbin was already fast asleep, oblivious to the living nightmares that plagued me.

I want to say that I wasn’t always afraid.  But the truth is, if I had to choose one word to describe myself, it would be “afraid.”  It was part of me.  It was who and what I was.  I was still that scared little six-year-old girl from so many years ago.