That makes sense, Amy. I did set the word count goal just to encourage me to push myself, but I'm not going to be too disappointed if I don't hit it as long as I write something.

I've been thinking about these characters for a long time and if I can get a fair amount of it out of my head and onto the page I'll be happy, really.

Go, Zen, churn out some words!

One thing a lot of writers do on Twitter is word sprints. You all start at the same time and write for a set number of minutes, as much as you can. If anyone is interested, we could do that here, too.

I'm interested.

It's fun -- it's knowing everyone is writing together and coming back when time's up to compare word counts and whatever.

I used to do that with some Star Trek friends. We had a chat room and we'd set a timer for 10-15 minutes or whatever and then come back to share/critique if wanted. It was fun. So many different stories and styles of writing.

hello there! My NaNoWriMo has turned into my forever book. Somehow my brain has decided to pull together all the threads of three or five different books I have been toying with more or less my whole life so ...yeah. this is turning out to be fun and exciting and more than a little scary.

That's great! Go you!

I have written 3624 words this month. And that was done in tiny sporadic spurts. But more than zero, so that's progress.

I'm at 4417 because I stalled out when I started working on my D&D Party Project which I am cool with letting happen because this is a thing which is more likely to lead to me making money and my WP feels so solidly rooted in my (for lack of a better word) soul that I feel safe leaving it ...and now that I type this I miss it and need to go write some right now bbl.

I lost another fiction contest, but because it was one of those weird ones you write in a few days to someone else's prompt, don't really think another mag would want. Will make a few good blog posts, though. [link]

Okay, I have an amusing story I've been saving for this crowd of writers.

I have a particularly heinous older relative. We say she's got the personality of a freight train: she will ask you a question, interrupt you to answer it herself, and then get mad at you for your stupid foolishness. She has spent a lot of time trying to make me better than I am with stuff I don't want, like expensive perfume and flouncy skirts.

So she came to visit and was informing me I need to do better with my life. I am "funny" so I need to write a book. I ask what she has in mind.

It's easy! she says. All I have to do is 1. take my book to the publisher, and 2. enjoy the money.

I can't stop laughing. Apparently I don't need to write an outline, do any research, or decide whether my book is steampunk high fantasy, historical fiction or a coffee table book called Recycled Home and Garden. There is no need to find an agent, deal with rejection letters or rewriting or editing or proofing. I can just pull a completed project out of a secret drawer and get on with it right away.

So I was delighted to discover how incredibly easy it is to create a book and get published and get a lot of money. Sadly I am too lazy to do this, but hey: one of you guys might have some luck with this method.