Putting the Writer's Hat Back On

It's that time of year again. Time for myself and certain other lunatics that I know to spend an entire month immersed in the writing of what we hope will be 50,000 word or longer novels.  If you've read my blog in any November past, you know what I'm referring to.  If not, let me make this as brief and painless as possible: Each November, the Office of Light and Letters sponsors a National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) challenge.  The goal is to write a fifty-thousand word novel between November 1st and 30th.  There are no prizes, no accolades, just you and a 50,000 word finish line.

This year will be my fifth attempt at NaNoWriMo.  This year's novel is still untitled, in spite of being well into the story at 10,000+ words as of today.  I'm taking on a new challenge this year with writing my first NaNo that's told in first-person (if you've forgotten everything you learned in your high school English class, there's a link to Wiki there).  The story is the first in a mystery series that I've been contemplating for a while.  The main character and narrator is one Dr. Maggie Bailey, a skeptic and atheist who finds herself reluctantly recruited into helping a local paranormal group.  The first novel will follow her first few months as a newly hired history professor and chronicle her introduction the group and her first paranormal casework.

I realize that I'm making it far more dry and boring that it actually is.  If I read that description, I'd probably give up on writing it!  Maggie's a bit of spitfire who's surrounded with an eclectic and unique cast of characters (reminds a bit of someone I know!).  I anticipate that there will more than a few jokes, a couple ghosts, and some tension just to make things interesting.  If I manage to write a portion that's remotely readable and interesting, I'll publish an exert over on my writing blog (with an announcement here, of course).

Off to pen a few dozen more words before dinner.  I'll try to post my progress regularly, but in case I forget, there's always the word count ticker in the sidebar.  --->

Happy noveling if you're among the crazy folks who participate in this month of madness.  If you aren't participating, why not (aside from a need to preserve your sanity, of course)?