Living the Fictional Dream

Wrimos all over the world are gearing up for the 2009 installment of National Novel Writing Month  (NaNoWriMo). It boggles my mind that it’s almost that time again already. Where did the time go? Weren’t we just doing that?

Of course, NaNo 2008 was the last big thing I did before finding out I was pregnant, so maybe that’s why it feels like it just happened. The time between here and there is a blur of nausea, labor, the NICU, having a newborn at home, and then leaving her at home as I transitioned back into my fulltime tech writer job. So, definitely some big events since last year.

My writing group is preparing to help our Wrimo members who will be competing in NaNo this year. It looks like we’ll have at least three participating. Go Wrinkers!

Sadly, I will not be amont them this year. Last year, I was able to juggle busy season at work and writing 50,000 words. It was hard and it aggravated my carpal tunnel, but I made it through. This year, though, doing all that with a baby in the mix? Yeah… there’s just no way.

However, I’m hopeful that I will be able to take advantage of at least a few of the write-ins that will abound in November to make progress on some of the stories I’ve been working on. I have a zombie flash piece that is almost finished. There is that rewrite request that I got, so I want to readdress that story. And some of my more recent rejections deserve a polish and another send-off into the world.

Lately, the only time I get to do writing-related things is when I’m at a writing group function (so, basically the monthly meeting and the monthly write-in). Those are the times when Hubby takes the little one and I can selfishly devote myself to my own interests for a few hours. I’m sure that will improve as the little one gets older and more self-sufficient, but that is quite a ways away.

Here’s hoping that the NaNo spirit will infect me in November and lead me to finish a few of my works- and revisions-in-progress. And I hope that my writing group mates, and any other Wrimos who might be reading this, have a great month full of thousands and thousands of words.