http://calendar.yahoo.com/pixiechikin shows what I'm up to. I don't know if that link belongs here precisely, but whatever. Since I'm bipolar and stuff, and work can get more intense in November, instead of doing the stately 1,600 words per day, and plenty of support from the great people on the Nanowrimo, I have a slightly different plan. I'm mostly avoiding the chat and message boards (though I want a t-shirt!), since I can and WILL get sucked in. However, if in a fresh crash, it's allowed. Anyhow, it looks like they've got a lower-involved option of weekly pep talks. cool. So - what am I doing and how am I doing it? Nanowrimo is about people writing novels. 50,000 words. In 30 days. I know, I know. I haven't finished a short story even in at least a decade. Most of my writing projects lately have been nonfiction. So why a novel? The cliche'd "why not?" comes to mind. But a few more accurate answers also arise: I'd like to start my 30s with at least onemanuscript; Annoyingly enough, though this is about quantity-not-quality, I think I am dang good when I bother to write; I like to fail at spectacular things (as opposed to small things, not as opposed to succeeding); When I'm procrastinating a big writing thing, often new little writing things get done. Anyway, when I write, which only has to be less than 2/3rds of the 30 days in November, my goal is 3,000 words on those days. I'm expecting them to be primarily weekdays. (Yes, I have a great job - lets me zone in and out, if I can just learn to harness the happy and energy of work, or email, or IM, I could saolve the universe's problems.) My novel will be a work of Chick Lit, though I don't beleive I've read any. But my life has been full of a lot of that dating drama, but with enough differences to make this interesting (and possibly salable). And I thought processing my mid-20s felt like a short-novel idea. There will be pronoun confusion, yes, as I'm working on the 3rd person fictionalization. So from the Did I just Buy Chick Lit? Quiz, 1) Does the book's cover: a) feature a shot of a women's legs or torso, b) present the book's title in a loopy script, c) contain bright, appealing, Easter-egg-like pastels, or d) otherwise appear an irresistibly delicious confection? Assuming this gets published, I'm picturing a screwdriver on the cover. Or maybe it's just because one is on my keyboard. 2) Is the book's author: a) Jane Green, b) Helen Fielding, c) Melissa Senate, or d) Jennifer Weiner? No, I'm April Walters. I always thought the name sounded like a children's author. (Little kid books, not the cool stuff aimed at 10 year olds.) 3) Is the main character one or more of the following: a) young, b) female, c) attractive, or d) single? I'd like to think yes. 4) Does she worry about: a) her weight, b) her career, c) the elasticity of her skin, d) her clothes, or e) the fact that she is unloved and alone in the world? weight, sure, but she/I has/have 50+ lbs to lose. Career? I think that won't be a big issue in this one. She/I has/have perfect skin. Clothes? Not a big deal. unloved and alone? mostly when the neurochems are going wacky. 5) Does she live: a) in a crappy walk-up with former college roommate, b) in a post-collegiate group house with alienated peers, c) with her commitment-phobic boyfriend, or d) with an unhelpful husband and two needy children in whom she's rapidly losing interest? Hmm, if I were sticking to real-life stuff, I was living with my parents for part of that time, but I think she/I will always have been on the city/county line in a cool half-house with annoying downstairs neighbors. 6) Does she have one or more of the following: a) a gay best friend, b) a snarky, disapproving feminist pal who needs to get laid, c) a mother who is the bane of her existence, d) a boyfriend whom all of the former despise? I keep trying to tell my male best friend that he's gay, but he denies it, so no. And at the time, he was more my imaginary boyfriend. feminist pal? nah. Mom's annoying, but only part of my life. And everyone's an ex in this book, so there's no active despising, though my mom is hard to please. 7) Does she work at: a) a women's magazine, b) a newspaper, c) a TV station, d) any other organization that can be linked, however tenuously, to "the media"? is an art college "the media?" 8) Does her boss: a) make her fetch, copy, and carry things, b) pat her on the ass, c) give her sage, motherly advice from her comfortable suburban spread, complete with hubby and 2.8 children, or d) resemble a well-known media personality? Nah. She's cool. I just bought her a gift set from Biondetta for her birthday. 9) Does she sleep with: a) a young turk who just wrote a hot new novel, b) not enough people, according to her married best friend, c) her best friend's husband, or d) a guy named Paolo? don't know anyone who wrote a novel, much less published one, much less lusted them. more like too many, but no married best friends. She/I have slept with a married guy, but I was not even friends with the wife, much less "best friends." And again, don't know any Paolos, nor will I invent one. 10) Then, does she: a) take fabulously humorous revenge on her boss and get a great job, thus emerging triumphantly from the dregs of her career, b) get over her ex-boyfriend, c) get over her boyfriend's ex, d) meet/marry a fabulous guy who's so much better than her stupid ex, or e) realize the object of her affections is a stupid jerk, cease the affair with him immediately, and return to her dreamy husband and children? no boss revenge, jobland is mellow. She/I'll be getting over several exes in this work. There will be no meeting of the fab guy (though I have in real life), so there will be no boyfriend's ex to get over, and I bleieve I will end this positioning her to meet said guy. There will also be realization of jerkiness and stupidity, hopefully on many parts, but no spouse and offspring. If you answered a, b, c, or d to any of the above, it is likely that you have recently purchased a volume of Chick Lit. Congratulations. If itching or irritation occurs, discontinue use immediately. So, #3, #9, and #10's yeses indicate that this will indeed be a dreaded piece of Chick Lit. Could be worse. And let's see, today, November 3rd, on creating this page, not counting the cut-n-paste from CP, I wasted 757 words that could have counted towards my wordcount. (Dang, it felt like more)