Big, Fun, Scary Adventure

I received an invitation the other day from Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month (better known as NaNoWriMo). The invitation was to take part in Big, Fun, Scary Adventure Challenge 2008.

The Challenge works like this: All of us come up with a list of things that we've long dreamed about doing, making, or being. These can be hard-nosed acts of practical skill-acquisition, such as becoming a ninja and learning to kill people with one's eyebrows. Or they can be fantastical notions such as going back to school and getting a degree in business administration.

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To take part in the challenge, you just need to post at least one big, fun, or scary goal for yourself in the BFS forum of the NaNoWriMo site. Then, come January 1, we'll roll up our sleeves, pack a lunch and a change of underwear, and set out into the unknown together.

I am competing, and though it is already the 3rd day of the year and I am slacking on at least one of my challenges, I am going to do my utmost to get back on track and do the things I have listed (check the sidebar, above my blogroll).

If you would like to take part, as well, just go here to sign up.

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing day spent with your nearest and dearest. I had the joy of seeing all three of my children show ecstasy and delight over their Christmas gifts.

Now that was a pleasure, and the best Christmas gift this mother could ever request.

I'm Back

Well, I took a bit of a hiatus from writing ... at least on this blog. But if you look to the bottom of my blogroll (on the left), you'll see what I was doing.

That's right. I competed in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated) 2007 and WON! I wrote a 50,136 word fantasy novel aimed at youthful readers. It was tiring and stressful, and within two days of finishing, I was thinking about doing it again. Yeah, even though I wrote 16,000 of those words in the last week of the competition, and regardless of the fact that I really didn't sleep that last week because I still had to go to work full-time, too. It felt good. REALLY good. Now I just have to get in the habit of writing on a regular basis...

Oh, and I need to edit the novel I wrote during NaNoWriMo. I might even be able to whip it into shape for publication... Now isn't THAT a dream to be realized?