Welcome to the start of National Novel Writing Month. For those of us crazy to embark on this mad writing adventure, we have thirty days to write 50,000 words. Can we do it? Best case senario, I have two hours to write while the baby naps in the afternoon, and three hours after she goes to bed.

“But Ciara,” you say,”you’re exhausted. Isn’t your baby still waking up every 2-3 hours during the night? You should be sleeping when your baby goes to bed!”

Believe me, I’ve tried. But I’ve decided to make the best of my body’s inability to fall asleep before midnight no matter how tired I am. I am going to write!

“But Ciara,” you say, “how can you possibly be coherent after not sleeping for seven months?”

Coherent? I said I was doing NaNoWriMo, not writing brilliant prose. The beauty of NaNo is that one is saved from the expectation of churning out some beautiful work of art. Nano is time for writing whatever thoughts tumble from your madly typing fingers. 50,000 words is not a novel, but it can be a great jumping off point for writing a rough draft. Last night I wrote 1,900 words (more than the 1,667 word minimum!). I’m using this time to get my ideas down on paper. In December my writing muscle will be back in shape, and I’ll start wrestling my ideas into something resembling a novel.

In case you are curious, this year I’m writing a Young Adult Steampunk Romance.

So. Who’s with me?

Tags: NaNoWriMo 2010