One Woman/30 Days/50,000 words

Setting up a website for my graphic design,writing and collage has been on my to-do list for at least a couple of years. Finishing a novel has been on my list for years. So now, in one stroke of a button- or two- I am committing to both. Sort of.This may not be an actual website but settting up this blog is much easier and I can do it now. Here is an email I sent out to friends and family earlier this morning:

I need to send this out and commit to this new project before I chicken out.

You've heard of the National novel Writing month held in November? Well, I love the idea of it but November is a ridiculous month for me to accomplish anything. So, I bought his book this week and have been prepping and psyching myself up to do it on my own in September- which starts tomorrow. Yep- I'm gonna write a novel in a month. Or at least 50 thousand words that will eventually hang together as a novel. I'm doing this weird and wonderful thing because:

1. I need a total kick in the pants in my writing life. Something to really focus on and sink my teeth into. This seems to fit the bill.

2. I have a novel or at least characters that seem to need the space of a novel and I already find myself feeling some anxiety around it. So instead of working chapter by chapter and revising until I am comfortable enough to submit it piece by piece to the group I am just going to blast through the whole thing in 30 days. (Yeah- I had to go and pick a month that has 30 days instead of 31).

3. With the girls going back to school in five (yes count them- 5 days!!) this project will provide some much needed structure that my writing life has been lacking ever since my class at OU ended.

4. And I think it will be fun. Most of the time. Some of the time. It's just that it's so ridiculous to even think of writing a complete novel in 30 days that it takes the pressure off. It's becoming a game of sorts.

So....I'm asking for all your good writing juju to be sent my way this next month- prayers, chants, voodoo, naked druid dances under a full moon- whatever works. Maybe some email check-ins and pep talks. I hear the second week is when I'll really need them.

Also, I won't be submitting anything to my writing group until at least October but I'll still come to the meetings.

I think I'll CC a couple more people- the more people I have to be completely humiliated in front of for flaking out on this the better. Plus it's more good juju.

So, here I go. Wish me luck.

I'm hitting send.

Really. I am.

Here I go...

• • • • •

So, I did hit send and in case I didn't announce it to enough people to sufficiently scare me into following through with this, I am starting this blog. For now it will document my next 30 days of writing 50,000 words. The good, the bad and the ugly.

After that I hope to record and reflect on the many threads of creativity that run through my days as a wife, mother, writer, graphic designer and collage artist. I will post photos of my artwork, maybe snippets of stories, books I am reading or books that I buy to add to the many, many stacks of books I still have to read. Basically just the stuff of my life.

And part of my stuff is going to pick up my youngest daughter at jump rope camp now...

Tune in...the real fun starts tomorrow.