NaNoWriMo Begins!

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All Hallow’s Evening. There is a magic of apple cider in the air, pumpkins and falling leaves and the chill of autumn setting in. It marks the Celtic New Year, and we have the merriment of the winter holidays to look forward to in the coming months. It’s a time of endings, and beginnings.

I spent this entire last week agonizing over my NaNoWriMo project. I wanted to throw all my energy into finishing Time & Tide, and have a completed draft by December 1st. I’ve been working on it for two years; the idea of finally writing myself to an end thrills me. But I’m afraid I don’t have a good enough grasp of the plot yet. I know the characters, and I know the ending–I just can’t seem to sort out how the characters get there yet. I’m afraid if I rush through it, the plot will suffer. Or maybe I’m just making excuses because I have writer’s block and if my muse decides not to show up tonight at midnight, it would be a very long month.

I considered writing 50,000 words of web content for here and my Hubpages page. I could do a variety–articles, poetry, chapters for my novels, random  thoughts. But just as working on a full novel sounded too serious, working on no theme at all, just a slew of whatever I happened to think up, sounded too light. I need direction for my writing this month if I am going to make it to 50,000 words. Seeing all the kids in costume tonight, it finally came to me, and I know what my theme is: myself. A bit narcissistic, but I fell in love with the idea. I’ve been meaning to discover myself for a while now, and what better way to do it in writing? (By discovering myself, I mean sitting down and having the chat I never got around to as a teenager, the one where my true self distinguishes herself from the other selves loitering around, all of whom are just masks my real self wears. It can be terribly difficult finding someone who is always wearing a mask, so that is my quest: I will find myself in the whirling ballroom of thoughts and desires, search until I see myself clearly and know myself and recognize myself even beneath the masks.)

I pulled out a spiral bound notebook I bought years ago. I had planned to write a Tolkien fanfiction piece in it, a long one named Sons unto our Father. I’m not entirely sure what the plot was meant to be, apart from including Feanor and his seven sons. I never got around to writing it, but I still have the five subject college ruled notebook with the title to a nonexistent piece on its cover. Somehow, it’s perfect. My notebook has its own mask, but beneath I will fill it with wonderful truths and half-lies created with best intent until I see myself in its ink.

I will continue to work on my novels as part of my NaNoWriMo project–I am most present in my writing, so it stands to reason it should be a part of my self-discovery. I’ll post excerpts and more journal entry and writing pieces here, and post articles that I feel inspired to write on my Hubpages profile. I may become scarce at times this month (barricaded on the couch with pens and a teacup and my notebook) but I will update my NaNoWriMo word count regularly, which will appear on this site as a widget on the sidebar.

 

To the NaNoWriMo writers: I salute you! Best of luck on your quest for 50,000 words. To those of you not participating… It’s never to0 late to sign up!

 

Happy November!

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