I’m doing NaNoWriMo. Some of you are as well.  I’d like to take the time to share an excerpt from the beginning of my novel in progress.  In return, I’d love for you to share an excerpt as well.  It can be one sentence, one paragraph, or whatever you desire.  A link to your NaNoWriMo page would be welcome as well.

To kick it off….

It all started with her Twittering about being naked. Sanja wasn’t actually naked but she liked to talk about it online.  It seemed to draw the biggest amount of feedback and followers.  Men and women alike enjoyed talking to someone a little dangerous and flirty.  Sanja was all of that, at least online.

Sanja enjoyed the other side of that as well. She enjoyed the fantasy of being naked and chatting with folks that knew she was naked.  She was excited that people that couldn’t eve see her were turned on.  Some of them perhaps carrying on their on little fantasies.  That’s what they would all be of course, since she couldn’t quite get away with stripping down.  Sanja was at that moment in the middle of a little cafe on a busy afternoon, surrounded by people on all sides.  Realizing that those on the other side could be anyone made it even more exciting for her.  She imagined that perhaps the young guy to her left was one of her Twitter contacts.

Sanja would steal glances around every so often to see if anyone seemed anxious or seemed to be engrossed in something other than casual internet browsing.  Some of her contacts provided pictures of themselves and she often looked around when she was out for any of them.  SOme of them lived right here in her town.  A few probably even shopped or ate at the same places as her, though she wouldn’t know unless she met them.

As Sanja sent her messages off to the internet, and fantasized, she couldn’t guess that she was soon to be getting a meeting between her online world and the offline one.

     That’s me in the picture above. That’s me about to write this blog post.  A blog post about writing in general and writing for NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo.

     It’s always been a desire of mine to be a writer.  Not unlike many folks I guess, writing a novel is at the top of my dreams list.  Writing blog posts has fulfilled part of scratching the writing itch.  But it’s not enough honestly, nor do I get to it often enough to make a dent in the backlog of thoughts and ideas I’d love to flesh out and share. It seems I just don’t keep up a great blogging pace.

     I’ll be using NaBloPoMo to work on correcting the blogging side of things.  NaBloPoMo is National Blog Posting Month, and the goal is simple, one blog post per day for each day in the month.  Sounds simple doesn’t it? But if you’re not already a daily blogger, suddenly the blog can go from fun outlet to work.

     There are no shortage of ideas, but when forced to write daily, writer’s block seems to occur a lot more often. The worst enemy is your and my drive to get it right when we right. We worry over the little stuff sometimes more than the big.

     Helping remedy writers block is one of the benefits of working on NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month.  One goal there as well.  Write 50,000 words between 12 AM November 1st and 12 midnight November 30th. There’s no grading for spelling. There’s no grading for plot. There’s even no grading for grammar.  The site has it right, just write.

     Am I going to be able to keep two writing projects going this month? Will I succeed at either? That’s the question.  But to make my life more challenging, I’ve decided to start a second year of the 365 project on Flickr. Seen enough of me? Not yet!

     Writing for me has always been scary.  The cure for dealing with fears though is facing them.  I’m going to face them this month and do what I can. I’m going to be honest with myself though and realize that my success with the stated goals is ultimately up to me.

     Writing is always ultimately about the author.  Some writing transcends the author, but it must come from inside before it’s apparent outside.  I’m praying that God fills me full enough to spill a little out into the world as writing, at least for November.

     To help myself write, I’m going to keep the music on in the background. I’m going to write in a room by myself.  I’m going to write and be comfortable. I’m going to keep caffeinated.

     Don’t expect miracles, grand plots, or the world’s best blog posts. Expect as the month wears on to get down to the real me by the end.  Hopefully that won’t scare you off. Hopefully as time goes on we’ll become friends, buddies and companions. Perhaps we’ll connect on some new level, or sadly, go our separate ways.

     In any case, I’m writing. Hopefully I’ll only look up long enough to make sure I don’t run off my friends and family, and to relax my mind a bit.

     Wish me luck, cheer me on, but if not, then get out of my way.

Or how to lose your sanity in 50,000 words or less.

That’s right, I’m going to try this again.  What’s this? It’s National Novel Writing Month, and yours truly is setting himself the lofty goal of writing a 50,000 word or more novel by midnight on November 30th.

Other’s have attempted this feat in years past and have succeeded but I’ve yet to complete one.  Coming alongside to do this I have a few friends attempting it, but will that be enough.  The drama begins today.

As of this writing, I’ve already put down over 1800 words. I’m writing and storing the novel to be in Google Docs.  This will make the story accessible from anywhere I need to work on it, and with any computer.

What does this mean to you?  It means I’m going to be crazier than usual and you can expect to see excerpts here.  You’ll probably be seeing mention of folks you’ve never heard of and things you might not want to think about.

What can you do to help? Read the excerpts. Leave comments. Suggest things to happen in the novel. Want more danger? More sex? More candy? Let me know.  Just be encouraging.

For now, it’s off to the races, and fingers to keyboards. Let novel writing begin.