November is the month of Crime Bake and Thanksgiving. I am doing a public reading on Saturday at the Hockessin Art & Book Fair and offering a workshop at the Bear Library on November 19 for teens interested in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. My brother is coming to visit, and I need to plan a birthday party for my husband. It is also National Novel Writing Month. Why does all the fun stuff happen in November?
Last week, my writing pal and NaNoWriMo buddy Judy Clemens used an homage to Dr. Seuss to share some inspiration. Today–one day before November–I’m following up with my own stab of Seussyness as the pressure of writing 1,667 words a day begins to mount.
I am not going to post on my blog this month
Not going to give out advice
I’ve already said all I have to say
Why nag you by saying it twice?
Not going to bug you about dialogue tags
Or how to make your opening strong
Not going to discuss the revision drag
Or the ways that mysteries go wrong.
I don’t want to be a Grammar Nazi
Or Marian the Librarian, either
For now I need to write my own stuff
So pardon me while I take a breather.
I’m not going to post on blog my this month
Except for a reminder or two
I’m starting NaNoWriMo tomorrow
And there’s only so much I can do.
I’ll be scrambling to introduce my protagonist
While making my word count goals
I must avoid my habit of meandering
And battle those frustrating plot holes.
So I’ll be absent from this blog of mine
For the entire month of November
But if you forget a writing rule
My How To Collection might help you remember.
Best of luck to all the NaNoWriMo warriors–and to all writers who get down words every day.
Ramona DeFelice Long 
Thanks, Ramona, for the creative and helpful poem. Good luck to you and all writing friends with getting your word count. My goal is smaller – 250 fiction words a day. I was inspired by your previous post to flex my writing muscles in a way that my schedule will allow. If I surprise myself and write more, all the better, but I am committing to no less than 250 NEW words added to the blank page. This means I’m forcing myself not to go back to fix gaps or holes or errors. This is a going to be a struggle for me, but I have to try to move forward and edit later. I will continue to blog as part-time sunshine and part-time author but won’t be counting those true narratives as part of my fiction goals.
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Donna, 250 words a day is a good commitment. Trying for more than you can realistically do is a guaranteed way to fail, and who needs that? Good luck! Every word you write this month is one to add up.
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Too great! 😆 Thanks, Ramona!
Marian
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Thank you, Marian!
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Have fun with NaNo. I’ve done it a few times, and am glad I did. I learned I could make time for writing. That was the best result for me. Writing that quickly did not result in my producing anything coherent. I’m still glad I did it, though. Have a good one!
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