NaNo Thoughts: Day 4

Whew! It's Day 4 of November's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and so far my 1,667 words a day have been oddly easy. My muse is proving herself very productive and easy to work with. I catch myself wondering, "What's the catch?" Usually as soon as I cozy up to her, she takes a indefinite sabbatical.

Though I am not a morning person, she seems to be. As soon as I wake up, I go straight to the computer in my office. Here I have no wireless signal, which I credit to so far being able to hit my daily word count and then some (averaging roughly 1,800 a day) before lunch or 2 p.m. at the latest. As a reward, I transfer my laptop to the den where I do have wireless internet and answer email, tweet my progress, and update my word count at the NaNoWriMo site. Depending on how engrossed I am in the scene, I go back and add more words, boosting my daily progress. I like knowing throughout the day that the real work's done and I can go back if my muse is still feeling work savvy. Otherwise, I usually tweak my material before bedtime, editing and jotting down ideas for tomorrow or a later plot point.

It's crossed my mind more than once why in the world NaNo is scheduled for November. The holiday rush begins. Thanksgiving plans are debated, college and NFL football distracts on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, my day job hours pick up.... Did the creators of NaNo pick a challenging month to test participants even further? Really, why November? Why not January? Or February? March? April? May, not so much thanks to graduations and weddings which transfer into June. July is for family vacations. And who wants to be tied to the keyboard when the beach beckons? August is back-to-school. September, the average parent is still adjusting to back-to-school. October, though? What's wrong with October? I'd still really like to know why November is D-Month! Can anyone tell me?

Ok, I promised helpful quotes! These get my fingers moving in the morning:

"Plots are like sharks - they either keep moving or they die!"

- J.R. Ward

"The only thing that stands between a woman & what she wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible."

- Richard M. Devos (c/o Maree Anderson - Thx!)

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.”

- Peter De Vries (c/o Cindi Myers' Market News blog)

"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
-Muhammad Ali

“Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending.”
- Author Unknown

“If at first, an idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”
- Albert Einstein

"My mind is novel-shaped."

- Zadie Smith

"It may take me a while, but I'll get it."

- Jennifer Hudson, auditioning for Dreamgirls

"The most important thing in writing is to have written. I can always fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank one."

- Nora Roberts

*At The Roses of Prose, we're talking about NaNoWriMo all week long. Stop by!*