It begins. I woke up at 12:05 Friday morning and typed a sentence: 51 words of my 50K target, 1/1000 of my goal.

I snagged the rest at the Kick-off party and post Panera-session in a couple of word sprints. I like the reckless nature of the word sprint. Ideas grow in chaotic fashion, springing up almost too late to record them. I have to look off into space while I type, or I automatically begin correcting myself–a reflex nearly instinctual after this many years at the keyboard. I also enjoy the camaraderie at the Write-in table. The energy focus is both intense and nurturing as everyone together throws themselves into the page. It helps that I seriously enjoy the people who are at the core of our regional group. Our Municipal Liaison (ML) is a total rock-star and deserves a medal, offering time and money without solicitation or complaint out of a pure love for NaNo and her peeps. You are so cool, Noel. Thank you.

The only thing about word-sprints I’m not fond of is the volume of trash it produces. Though I’ve certainly hammered out 1200 words, 75% of them are worthless word vomit. It’s the nature of the beast. They do the job their intended job–firing up the imagination and warming up the fingers, but their true usefulness is limited. I won’t be using them during my more sedate and deliberate writing sessions…like the one I should be pursuing right now rather than a blog post of which my brother is likely to be the only reader–“Hi, John.”

It’s presently the plan to update both my Instagram with summative calendar photos and my blog home here with entries not much longer than this to keep up a sense of interaction with the world. “Isolation is my drug of choice,” said a very good friend of mine recently.  For me, this is the gospel truth, so I need to keep it at bay. Until tomorrow then…or later tonight.

Oh…one more observation. Though it is termed National Novel Writing Month, for me it’s more of a NaMaWriMo or National Manuscript Writing Month. For my philosophy on the term “novel” see the “Goals and Definitions” page above.