I've always wanted to write a novel...

Writing a novel is kind of one of those things it seems like you might do someday, but probably won't. Or at least that's me. Like being a teacher. I still often think of things I'll do "when" I am teaching, even though I have no plans to ever teach. I have also thought about things I might someday write a book about, even though I never really "planned" on writing a book.

But today I happened across this link to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. November is the month, and they try to get as many people as possible to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Can't start before or finish after. I thought about it for a while, and decided to sign up. It's free, and if you don't finish they don't sue you. You can see my profile here, and even view an excerpt of my novel, which I started just after midnight today :) I'm up to 893 words, and I can also update the word count on my profile.

Here are a few of the things from their site that inspired me to do it:
- To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.
- We love the fringe benefits accrued to novelists. For one month out of the year, we can stew and storm, and make a huge mess of our apartments and drink lots of coffee at odd hours. And we can do all of these things loudly, in front of people. As satisfying as it is to reach deep within yourself and pull out an unexpectedly passable work of art, it is equally (if not more) satisfying to be able to dramatize the process at social gatherings.
- The other reason we do NaNoWriMo is because the glow from making big, messy art, and watching others make big, messy art, lasts for a long, long time. The act of sustained creation does bizarre, wonderful things to you. It changes the way you read. And changes, a little bit, your sense of self.