And So It Begins...

If you don't follow me on Twitter, then you may not know that I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year.
What is NaNoWriMo, you say? Well...the long and short of it is November is National Novel Writing Month and NaNoWriMo is when you attempt to write a 50K word novel between 12:01am on November 1 and 11:59pm on November 30.
I did NaNoWriMo twice in high school — during my junior and senior years in high school. I think the first year I did it I didn't actually make it to 50K but I declared myself a winner because I made it to about 45K and I ended up ending the novel there (yes, I know that's super short) because I hadn't taken much time to think about the plot beforehand and so it just kept going around in circles and I felt ridiculous for continuing it. (Apparently I hadn't learned that whole, "Your NaNo novel isn't supposed to be perfect...turn off your inner editor and just write" thing yet.)
I know that I did win it one year, so I'm guessing it was my senior year. But I have absolutely no recollection of what that novel was actually about. So yea.
Since 2006 (the last time I did it), various things have prevented me from having the time to dedicate to that much writing without guaranteeing that I would go absolutely bonkers or get even less sleep than I already did during college. But now, I have no excuses, so I'm trying again.
I finally decided on my plot tonight, but I'm keeping it a secret, at least for a little while. If I decide to share an excerpt or two with you as the month goes on, then I'll obviously reveal the general premise of it to you, but I will say it is one of the four options I polled you all about a couple of weeks ago.
I shall do my best to keep my posting semi-regular (my goal is three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) throughout the month, but as we near the end of the month, posting may drop off a bit...depending on how behind I am on my word count.
So here's to late nights of chocolate, inspirational music, a severe lack of sleep and a novel (or the roughest rough draft of one) at the end of the month.
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Is it your first time or have you done it before? What are ways you keep yourself focused or give yourself motivation when you find it lacking?
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