The Write Stuff or perhaps more appropriately The Write to Die!

I have been inspired by the fabulous Kate Lord Brown on her blog http://katelordbrown.blogspot.com to take a leap into the dark. In a ‘put up or shut up’ challenge to myself I have joined the American NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month group. (http://www.nanowrimo.org). The idea, which seems frankly laughable from my current perspective, is that during the month of November (which in a cruel twist of fate is only 30 days long) you write 50,000 words.

Somewhat predictably in the 8 hours since I signed up this morning. I have:
a) Mooned about panicking that we are already halfway through the 1st of November in Sydney whilst it hasn’t even started in the US;
b) Consumed a giant packet of chocolate buttons in an effort to kick start the muse
c) Gazed at the pouring rain, cancelled family photo shoot scheduled for this afternoon as feel shots of family group on the beach wearing wellies and morosely sharing umbrella are not how I want to remember our time in Sunny Sydney
d) Continued to watch rain whilst secretly rejoicing that surely netball must be cancelled this evening – there must be limits to these female netballers’ keenness after all
e) Read NaNoWriMo hints which include the following gem:

Tell everyone you know that you're writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who've had to hear about your novel for the past month. Seriously. Email them now about your awesome new book. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

So there you are – I have told you all – roll on personal humiliation! I will try and post the word count widget at the top of the blog so you can jeer and cheer at appropriate moments. I can’t actually decide whether this insanity means that I will be posting endless blog posts during the month as the ultimate in procrastination or whether it will entail complete radio silence.

At the moment my biggest problem is trying to decide whether I revisit a draft of a novel I tried to write in the US focusing on marital infidelity - always a goodie – or whether I try and go for something completely new – the advice from NaNoWriMo is go completely new – apparently much more exhilarating and liberating – apart from the fact my mind is a complete blank. Time to do or die and hit that first minimum of 1,000 words a day.