it's all about that first step...

I did something a little crazy today - I signed up for National Novel Writing Month.

The goal? Write a 50,000-word (approx. 175 pages) novel from scratch in 30 days.

So far, I have a plot line, a tentative title, two main characters who can't stand each other and about 130 words. I suppose that's a good start, considering I started working on this about 5 hours ago, and it took an hour and a half of that to decide on names. What can I say? I'm particular about names.

You may be wondering what possessed me to sign up for a month of insanity. Well, the best conclusion that I've come to is that I've all but stalled out on my writing out of fear, and that's not a good enough reason to stop working. If you never take the first step, you'll never walk anywhere. So this is my step out the front door.

A real challenge. A real deadline. If I don't make it, it's only because I didn't put forth the effort to succeed, and that's no way to work or live.

So, I'd love it if you ask me for updates on my progress, because I'm going to need my friends to spur me on - that's why I'm putting this out there in the first place. If I have accountability, I'll be that much more encouraged to finish what I've started.

If you have any interest in the story I'm working on, let me know, and I'll send you a bit of it, because knowing that I'll be sharing it with someone will help me make it as good as possible. It will be unedited for the most part, though, so please bear with me in love (especially if it's not Dickens quality!). ^_^

So here's to November, and the completion of Charming!