It’s November First, and of course, you know what that means: the official start of NaNoWriMo!

I really wanted to NaNo this year, especially after taking last year off, but it’s not in the cards. I mean, I could make the effort, but I would fail! Fail!! Waaaah!

Not like that’s such a big deal, but I’ve got enough to worry about this month without the added pressure of 50k words. I mail off everything next Monday to end my semester. To my prof, my final draft of my thesis and my paper on introspection. And to the MFA office: five professionally-printed-on-32-pound-paper copies of my thesis. Ready to bind. Holy cow. So school work is the name of the game this week! Then next week I fly out to Missouri to help wrangle my brother’s two sons, while his wife takes care of their newborn daughter. Then when I get back! Finishing touches on my craft lecture. NO REST FOR THE WEARY!!

BUT! I still want to push through on Sparks (when I can focus on it after Monday). I don’t anticipate getting a lot done while in St. Louis (because my life will not be my own!), but I want to get something down every day. So that’s my own NaNo goal: significant progress on Sparks. I want to define “significant progress,” but I don’t want to obsess over it too much (and risk not finishing my craft lecture by the end of the month. Priorities!) So, let’s just say … more than a few chapters. :)

Every week I’m going to post an inspirational quote on writing. Here’s this week’s:

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  ~Sylvia Plath

Happy Writing and Good Luck!!