Starting A Novel on April Fool's Day

Given that only getting to be insane one month out of the year doesn't quite seem like something I want to confine myself too, when writing insanely fast and unleashed is so very much fun.  November's National Novel Writing Month extravaganza is when I started seeing myself actively pursuing the dream I'd had since I fell in love with books on my grandmother's arthritic knees.  Writing 50,000 words and letting the characters cut loose and go where they want is fun, but then, I collapse, exhausted from racing after them taking notes, and I shove the writing away and forget it, and work on teaching, and book promoting and being a mom, wife and daughter.  Sitting there alone, it becomes a creature in a cocoon and when I release it and look again the metamorphosis is far from complete, but wonderful writing has become error laden and honestly horrible and throw away experiments suddenly work well and time has wrought some magic and allows me to see the novel with the eyes of an avid reader.

So here 4 months have passed, full of holidays and school and food and family. I've blogged and scribbled and contributed to forums but I haven't "written"

I have put on my other hat and sold copies of my three printed novels, 4 copies here, 12 there, but the fun one for me was finding a school district, with a director of curriculum and a group of fifth grade teacher, willing to invest in my Double Time on the Oregon Trail as a teachable class set of 38 books.

But I haven't written, so here I am, April Fool's Day, spring break having ended yesterday and the house quiet again, and the kids and husband gone to what they do, and CampNaNoWriMo comes knocking at my door.  Commit to another 50,000 words, get exhausted being creative and having fun, be selfish and do what you love. Spend your computer time being productive instead of on facebook.

So if you write,

or have always wanted to,

if you want to create something great and have not gotten around to it yet,

if you don't have the time

but you do have the dream

I'll see you at campnanowrimo.org

No Joke!