Just before I started my Facebook Fast, a friend asked if I had ever considered writing a novel. The short answer: yes. The Facebook Fast began right around the time that NaNoWriMo was gearing up. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, for those that don’t know. Anyone can participate, and the goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. The words can be a complete novel, or a part of one. It can be expertly written or utter tripe. It doesn’t matter. The goal is simply to put words on a page.
So I decided to give it a whirl even if I end up with the aforementioned utter tripe. In the past I’ve dreamed up individual scenes that I’ve written down – they can come from a dream I had, or a sudden inspiration on the way to work, or as a result of a conversation I had with a friend. But I’ve never had a whole plot. Last week, as November 1 quickly approached, I had nothing. And I mean nothing. I was thinking I would not be participating after all. And then on Thursday while sitting at my desk at work I remembered a conversation I had had with Denis the night before, which led to remembering a conversation we had a week ago, and that led to the sudden realization I had an entire plot to a book, and even a couple ideas for scenes.
Come Saturday, after CootieGirl and I finished our 5K race, I came home, sat at the computer, and promptly begin typing. 1,668 words, to be exact. And then on Sunday I sat down after church and typed up some more. With any luck, I’ll meet the 50,000 word goal on November 30th and will have something that I might be able to edit and mold into a story that is somewhat readable and quite possibly even enjoyable.