Writing 50,000 Words

So, NaNoWriMo started 45 minutes ago. The Halloween frenzy is over (though the candy will linger for a month), and now I'm expected to write 50,000 words in one month while also writing my regular, paid work and taking care of familial commitments. I was excited to start it, but now that the time is actually here, I'm looking for other things to get done before I start. Write a novel quickly? Erm, I think I'll update my blog...

Before starting the book, I've learned two things:

1. High school never, ever ends. Ever. The cool kids still think they're the cool kids and still cling to each other to exclude others. This is true even if you never went to high school with these people. It makes no difference.

2. There is an actual product now that combines chocolate and wine. No kidding- it's basically liquid chocolate mixed with red wine. I can't understand how this was never invented before. Don't believe it? Believe it! Behold:



So, if you have a novel in mind and you need that kick in the ass to really get started, this might be the thing. Not the wine, though that would probably help, but using this arbitrary schedule to get over starting jitters and get a novel going. Writing the whole thing in one month as fast as you can may not sound practical, but who knows? It just may work.

NaNoWriMo

I'm doing NaNoWriMo. No kidding. I am actually going to do it. It's a great concept if you've never looked into it- you write a novel in a month, ignoring that internal voice that tells you that what you are writing is ridiculous and weird. You just write it. Just write. You write and write and write, getting all of those characters out there and creating the entire framework, 50,000 words, within one month. Once it's done you can go back and edit and pull out the ridiculous passages. It's a great idea, but it's intimidating enough to have kept me from it for the past few years. Every year I hear about people doing it but have never jumped in there. This year I'm in it to win it, bitches.

My novel is weird and has too many genre concepts in it, but it has all of the aspects that I like and that makes it worth writing. All of the writers that I have admired admit to writing the things they like to read. That's what I'll do and we'll see. We'll see.

Meanwhile, my gardening book is selling steadily. It is number 662 in books right now on Canadian Amazon. That is truly, truly freaky.

Update: A day later, it's at #2,364. I have no idea why it would fluctuate so much in a day. And that picture is there just because I thought it looked pretty cool.

Holy Crap

I did my once-in-a-great-while Google search on myself just now and guess what I found? My book.It's already listed on Amazon, and it looks like it's already been pre-ordered by at least a couple of people, judging by the placement number. I don't even know how to get my mind around that. I really, really don't.