3…2…1…Blast Off!
Thursday rounds the hump of Wednesday and slides in safe at home! Another weekend is almost upon us and as is tradition at Treading Water (officially the second week of this long-standing tradition), today is reserved for random musings—thoughts about anything, everything, or whatever happens to tickle my fancy at the moment.
Many of you know that the NaNoWriMo (try to type that ten times fast!) begins in less than a week—six days, seventeen hours, three minutes and forty-five seconds at the time of this posting, to be exact. In my many cruises around the blogs, it seems like everybody’s gearing up for it, and as a first time participant, I’ve even posted a couple of entries on the topic. I’ve prepared my workspace, downloaded essential writing tools, and pre-plotted and pre-structured until I can pre-plot and pre-struct no more. The biggest obstacle ahead of me is a nasty inner critic, and over at Eureka Wrote, I’ve been doing speed-writing exercises to keep him from raising his ugly head. My friend, Egg—a.k.a. Eureka—has compiled some excellent worksheets on his site over the year, worthy of more than a second glance.
But the most important preparation of all…I’ve grown my goatee back. Muses come out in droves when I look like a satyr.
Tomorrow night in our region, we are having a NaNoWriMo kick-off party, and if everything goes well at the homefront, then I think I’ll go. Usually I’m a J.D. Salinger loner kind of guy, but for this, I’ll make an exception. It will be nice to make some local contacts in the writing world, and I’ll definitely take lots of pictures and post about it in this week’s Sunday Inspirations if I do attend.
Which leads to the purpose of today’s entry. During the course of NaNoWriMo, I’ve decided to only post on Sundays. At this point, especially considering all the time it’s taken to prepare for the event, I feel like all my energies should focus on that. The Sunday Inspirations will continue as planned, acting as my saving grace, for I’ll probably need a day to reflect on what this is all about—a day set aside for words of encouragement. Or maybe, words of frustration. We’ll see.
If you’re a part of NaNoWriMo, look me up and add me to your buddy list. My NaNo link is:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/m-l-swift.
Whether it’s the NaNo or simply the day-to-day scribbles we put to paper, we’re all in this together. I’m looking forward to seeing some of you there.
Peace,
ML
M.L. Swift, Writer 
M.L. Wow– I'm super impressed with all your preparation and finding a support group. You are sincere and determined in your efforts and I find that inspiring. You know how I just get "those feelings". Well, I just have this feeling something great is going to come out of this. Go you. I will be cheering you on and on and on!
Thanks, Julie! You serve as a source of inspiration and support in your own right, and I appreciate having you in my circles. Here's to your extrasensory feelings – hoping they come to pass!! Thanks for the rahs – all the time.
Thanks for the positive words, Mike. I'm cutting back on the blogging while I tackle NaNaNa, too. I checked out your profiles – your YA sounds super cool. The title is a great start. It sounds like you have an adventurous little kid inside you bursting to get out. A 30day story might be the ticket. I did some 'tests' and changed my nanana tact also….Clean workspace, local support group – it sounds like you're good to go. I wish I had your confidence. Egg
I think that's why I like the YA genre…I never really grew up! Yeah, there's some deeper stuff in me, but lighthearted adventure is what I crave right now.My confidence? I tremble beneath my brick facade! But lifelong experience in subjective hobbies (acting, singing, drawing, writing) has thickened my skin. I realize that not everybody's going to like my stuff and I'm okay with that (as long as the majority of people do!):o)Thanks for dropping by. Add me to your buddy list on NaNo.
Will do.