November

November has always been one of my most favorite months. It holds my absolute favorite holiday ever. Oh, how I love thanksgiving. I love the crazy hectic week before hand filled with sugary sweetnness of making buckeyes, bonbons, and mexican wedding cookies. I love spending the month reflecting on the past year and taking note of all the loved ones who have made my life better and better. I anticipate the night before that glorious thanksgiving day on which my sister, mom, and I stay up late rolling out pie crusts, making fillings, rewashing pots and pans, and over again and over again the cycle goes until the last pie, lemon meringue? is cooling on the counter. I love Thanksgiving morning, putting on an outfit, carefully selected and do my make up and hair; ready to create new memories. So, I'm looking forward to all of the above with great anticipation, with excitement, and with nostalgia of Thanksgiving's past and all the traditions and memories.

Thanksgiving is what I love most about November BUT five years ago I was introduced to yet another event that makes November just the extra best. NaNoWriMo; National Novel Writing Month.
There is a website to follow, fellow novelists to connect with, writing prompts, word warring, and so many other adventures over there. The goal is to write 50,000 words of fiction. To write a novel in one month. Once you hit 50k you are officially a winner, you can print off your certificate, buy your winner t-shirt, and consider editing the mountain of very, extremely, scarily, raw material that your fingers typed. Okay, so it is a very nerdy thing and oh, how I love it.

My first year, 2011, I made it to 50k on day 12. 2012 it took me 17 days. In 2013 my mother thought I should be too busy planning a wedding, hanging out with my fiance, and giving any extra time to her and the family and not noveling so that year I failed (no hard feelings mommy, I didn't really have any plot or ideas anyways). Last year, 2014, I "won" by the 19th, I loved everything I had written but as I had competed the immediate task at hand I closed the file having 50,872 words and didn't open it again until a few weeks ago. I never came close to actually finishing the novel. And where am I going with all of this? Here we are; November 2nd and I haven't signed up to do NaNo this year. I have a feeling I may debate writing this year until November 30th.. I really want to try but I'm so worried I'll fail and as long as I don't actually commit I can't actually fail.

But this book; it needs finished. But what if I don't have 50k words worth of story to tell?! Ugh. Still not sure what to do but I'm leaning towards jumping back in to the writing world with out actually signing up that way if I don't make 50k I won't fail since I never committed.

At least if I don't feel successful this month for completing NaNoWriMo at least we know it will still be a great November, because, no one can take away Thanksgiving ^_^

Hopefully I'll be back before the month is up gone to at least update you on Thanksgiving festivities.
~Haley