And they're off!

If you've managed to stick with me for a full month with only two updates, then congratulations! You win this third update!

A good deal has occurred in my family since the last time I posted about something or other. Here's the skinny:

Familial Health Crisis (handled)
Currently visiting with Family in Idaho (baby sister is adorable)
Acceptance to the British Literary Tour as provided by BYU-Idaho (elated)
Beginning work on NaNoWriMo (in progress)
Baby Sister Turns 1 (Happy Birthday, Rudi!)

And there you have it. What I've been up to for the last couple of weeks.

Since I promised more information about it in my last post, let's talk about NaNoWriMo!

National Novel Writing Month is this ingenious device thought up by a guy named Chris and some other masochists, who decided that it would be a great idea to try and write a fifty thousand word novel in a month (namely, Turkey Month, also known in latter days as 'November'). Misery loves company, and so like a berserk snowball wheeling its way down Mount Everest towards an unsuspecting camp, NaNoWriMo has grown to a massive, cold ball of doom.

Writers everywhere rejoice!

Last year was my first year 'competing,' and I managed (barely) to make it. The story I was writing then was about three siblings (The Whipsnappers); one of them is kidnapped by goblins, the other one goes to get him back, and the third one stays to take care of their village. Exciting stuff. Unfortunately, I was as poorly organized as a clan of dust bunnies trying to wage war on a tribe of vacuums. I have a good deal written in that book, but it has remained exactly as it is for...well, the last year.

THIS year, however, I started out with an entirely different tactic. I wrote up a disturbingly brief outline, with a vague subject for each of the planned thirty chapters. A chapter a day, and I'll find myself with a complete (albeit rougher than a blind date with a yeti) novel. Which I will then smother in spit and polish until I feel it's decent enough to have someone read...and then attempt to get it published.

In my next post (it will be much sooner, I promise!) I'll put up the synopsis and a brief excerpt from this year's attempt.

The title: Lady Luck: First Time's a Charm