NaNoWriMo is almost here! Am I ready?

November 1 is approaching far too quickly for my liking.  NaNoWriMo will soon be starting and thousands of us will be lurching out of the starting gate.  I for one am excited and nervous about it.

I am looking at this writing challenge as a way of motivating me, of propelling me into ‘real’ writing – meaning committed writing.  I know it is not going to happen without work, but it could be a sound beginning for me, a departure from short children’s stories and articles for Valley Sunshine publication.

My problem, as I see it, is that I have nothing to start with, no characters, no plot, no scenes, no genre, no plan.  As I said, nothing.  Well, okay .. so I have a few ideas floating around in my head but they are just that .. floating, not attached to anything in particular.  And I have had a couple of dreams, just strange ones so that I wonder … is that a NaNo clue?  I don’t know!

I do know that most people who apply themselves to NaNoWriMo do so with a plan in mind or outlined on paper (or computer).  They have an idea of where they are headed.  There are some others who don’t, and – like me – are going to be sitting down to write whatever comes to them once they begin.

Thus far, on my NaNo page I have three ‘buddies‘, one is  also a first timer.  I think for each of us this is going to be a major undertaking because of other time-consuming things, but we are going to make the effort.  I’ve signed up for the daily tips and encouragements, hoping that will spur me on and keep me going.

Well, if nothing else, I’m sure to learn a lot about taking on something like this, and about myself.  I hope I like what I find out!

I will try to keep an update going on here of my word count and experience as I go along.  It might not be pretty, so I apologize now.  🙂

Do you have any tips for me?  Any plans for doing NaNo this year yourself?  Or have you done the challenge in the past and have a story to tell me about your experience?  I would love to hear about it!  Please!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂