Twas The Night Before NaNoWriMo

For me, days are usually defined solely by a (mostly) uninterrupted period of wakefulness. Go to bed, and when you get up it’s the next day. However, there’s a big event happening Thursday morning which has me confused: All NaNo’s Eve. it’s technically Thurs. morning if you’re one of those pedants about days and nights and clocks and such, yet it’s tonight by my pragmatic definition.

All I really know is that at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 1, NaNoWriMo begins and I’ll be at a 24-hour truck-stop diner with a dozen or more other Calgary-based Wrimotaurs, launching into our 30-day writing frenzy. This night/morning will be a challenge in one important respect: it goes way past my bedtime.

I hear a lot about the habits of writers; creative bursts of energy in the wee hours, fueled by obscene amounts of caffeine and some competitive games called Word Wars. All I can think of is whether my eyes will start to bleed by 12:07 because I’m invariably asleep by 11:00 on school nights like this, I hate even the smell of coffee and can’t we all just get along? 

In addition to the challenge of writing 50,000 words in November, I’ve also agreed to post a daily, minimum 50-word blog entry on my NaNoWriMo experience (hereinafter tagged #epicnanoblog). After all, what’s 50 words on top of 1,667? Apparently it’s epic, but I’m sure the true significance will reveal itself in the coming weeks.

It’s here in this section of my blog that you’ll find my #epicnanoblog posts and any other whining that needs to be done about this self-inflicted, self-indulgent mayhem. I’ve also installed the NaNoWriMo widget in the sidebar so everyone can shame me if I fall behind the pace. Wish me luck!