Helga without the H

Some people may think it is cheesy or lamesauce, but I personally LOVE NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I love it so much that, in just a few days, I will begin my 8th year of participation. The basic deal is that you are given 1 month in which to write 50,000 words. If you hit 50K, you are a winner. The whole thing is honor-system, and the folks who came up with this humble idea over a decade ago have seen their little non-profit explode in popularity to over 325,000 registered participants. The organizers have set up a handy-dandy website where you can track your progress, communicate with other participants, etc. And that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.

In seven previous years of participating, I have “won” five times. One year I didn’t make it because I lost my job and had to switch gears to job hunting, and another year I just didn’t have the energy because I had mono. In the meantime I’ve come up with several solid foundations or rough drafts for novel, only one of which I’ve gotten around to finishing, editing, and cleaning up enough to self-publish (that would be my 2009 entry, Holly, The Captain, and Handsome Jack.)

This year I am excited for my concept. Inspired by a 2 day cross-country train ride that I took this past summer, I plan to write about some of the interesting people I met along the way. I will surely come back to this post to update my progress and vent my frustrations.

In the meantime, you can follow along with my stats here.

Wish me luck!