I will resist the temptation to explain all this just now, for reasons that might well become clear. Suffice to say that I am supposed to write a certain number of words — 2000! — every day this month. Maybe by posting word counts here, I can keep myself honest.
11:35 am — 69,458 words
(Later)
6:55 pm — 71,568 words, or 2,110 words on the day.
Okay, now I have time to explain. It has been years and years and years plus since I finished writing a novel. Life intrudes. Other sorts of writing gets done. I edit and publish other peoples books. I raise children. And then, the older of those two children, Matthew, who is taking a crack at writing himself, told me that what he wanted for his birthday was for me to take part, sort of, in NaNoWriMo, also known as National Novel Writing Month, which happens to take place in November, which happens to be when Matthew was born, so there you are.
Challenge accepted. At least I’ll try. I have been stuck in a holding pattern with a novel for years on end, getting to it only now and then. Maybe it is true that I need something like a deadline or a challenge to get me going. Maybe this will work. I’ll find out. I will do my best to post my progress here everyday — and as soon as I am done with writing this post, I’ll email a link to my son, so he can track me and keep me honest.
It is too easy for me to write about writing, and process, and how I do things. Given the chance, I could crank out 2,000 words a day about writing 2,000 words a day. I will try and avoid that trap by not entering anything beyond word count for a day until I have hit the 2,000 mark.
Must go collect my wife at Metro. More tomorrow, God willing.
Best to all,
