Pre-NaNoWriMo Ramblings

For the longest time I had convinced myself that I wasn't going to do NaNoWriMo this year. There were several reasons why this was, not the least of which was the fact that my semester is literally insane, therefore I was anticipating no time, I had no story ideas (or no new ones anyway, and as far as I know, you're not allowed to work on the same story two years in a row), I wanted to win and didn't know if I could commit to it this year, etc. However, after having watched this video, I realized that these were all superficial, stupid reasons. Kristina is right, there is no excuse to not do NaNoWriMo this year.

Honestly, aside from the video, the main reason I got excited about NaNoWriMo was the fact that a lot of Youtubers were telling their Twitter followers to add them as writing buddies if they were participating this year. When I saw that Luke Conard was attempting this year, I was like, Done. Finished. Of course I'm gonna do it now.

The big worry of mine, however, was the fact that I was still lacking another original story idea. I love the one that I attempted last year, but I failed so miserably last year, I just didn't want to force the issue with that one. I want to go back and work on it when I feel inspired to. Better to start fresh with a new idea. Luckily, one came to me last night in the shower.

I'm... not going to tell you what it's about, but it was based on a conversation I had with my mother. I will give you a hint: it's hopefully going to have a very John Green/Maureen Johnson/Cassondra Clare/Cinda Williams Chima feel to it. And if you've read books by any of these authors, you'll know exactly what I'm shooting for. Especially Cinda Williams Chima and Cassondra Clare. Those women are wonderful.

So we'll see. Here's my list of Wills and Won'ts for this year.
I WILL plan enough over the next couple days before it starts that I'll have a decent idea of where I want my story to go. In tandem with this:
I WILL finish watching Buffy this weekend so that I can pour my Buffy-withdrawal symptoms into writing. And so that I don't feel tempted to get distracted by watching it. xD
I WON'T fall into the trap that I fell into last year of continuously re-writing what I'd already written until it got so tedious and so late in the game that I gave up.
I WILL just write to write, just get something down on the page and not care about whether or not it's good. Re-writes can come later.
I WON'T write too much in one day.
I WILL stick to the 1,667 words a day limit.
I WON'T deny myself the ability to go over the limit if I'm feeling especially inspired.
I WILL write during the day.
I WON'T postpone it until the night. I'm far too tired this semester and I'll start falling behind.

There are probably more, but these are the ones I can come up with at the moment. I think it's a pretty good list, considering I'm no longer a rookie at this. I'm a veteran. Not a seasoned one, but one nonetheless.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful NaNoWriMo, fall season and November!

P.S. Mockingjay review blog post will be up soon. When I have time.

HPRT: Today in rep class, we were learning the choreography for our mini-pops next month, and one of the moves caused my friend Garrett to quote the part of AVPS when Lucius Malfoy comes in and does the leap across the floor. I then commenced doing that move myself. It made my day =]
Current Book: None. No time. Damn.
Current Song: Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine