November is many things ...

So apparently its November. Who knew, right!? I swear it came out of NOWHERE. 

Well, November is scary for a few reasons, most of which is the fact that Christmas is under two months away. But it also means we may suddenly get Fall here in Southern California, but even as I write this I know that's a farce. But November means Thanksgiving is coming, and I love to eat, so that's a win. And as scary as it is to know Christmas lurks just around the corner, I'd be lying if I said that didn't also totally excite me. 

But November also happens to be Nano time! (NanoWrimo for those of you who are like, "Wha??" National Novel Writing Month for those of you who are still scratching your heads.)  

You know what that means? It means I'm going to commit to writing a novel in 30 days. I'm going to join the masses of over-caffeinated, over-tired, crazy-eyed writers and write at least 50,000 words this month. 

How am I going to do this?

Coffee. Lots of coffee. 

Most people sit down to start fresh. They have a shiny idea in their head, and they've plotted it out, planned the story, the characters, the key points of their novel, they have a plan. They're plotters. And then there are those who don't. The pantsers. (These are my people!) They sit down for Nano and just write whatever comes. Pantsers don't even know HOW to plot. And by golly, they've tried. 

So you've got a good 75% of the NanoWrimo'ers who are three days into the shiny new novel, with the shiny new idea, and they're so excited. Its fresh, its awesome, and this novel is going to rock. 

And then you have the other 25%. They're doing their own thing, which they lovingly refer to as NanoFimo. National Novel Finishing Month. Get it? :-) They want to finish their already halfway completed novels. Or they want to revise. Or they want to rewrite. Whatever it is, they aren't doing Nano to start fresh, they're doing Nano to commit to finishing the manuscript they've been working on, and having something to push them and hold them accountable seems like the perfect thing. 

That's who I was when I signed up. I was a NanoFimo'er. I have 21K of EVER TWO and this was the perfect opportunity to make myself finish. I was so excited. 

And then I sat down on November 1st, opened a blank page, and started writing. 

And you know what? 

It wasn't EVERTWO. 

O.o

It was something else entirely. 

O.O

Yeah. I know. What was I thinking? 

So, here I am, day three of NanoWrimo and 8K into a new WIP. 

And I'm loving it. Its awesome. Its shiny and new and can do no wrong. 

YET.

So, what are you doing for Nano this year? Something old? Something new? Something ... blue? Let me know in the comments! 

For now, a little about my WIP:

Holland Briggs isn't your average senior. Sure, she's gorgeous and seemingly normal, but what she's hiding lurks just under the surface, and pretty soon it won't be just Holland who knows about it. 

DIVIDE is a young adult mash-up, combining a classic fairytale redux with a gruesome gothic horror.

And well ... um ... I guess we'll just see how it turns out, huh?