NaNoWriMo

As October draws to a close, I experimentally stretch out my stiff typing muscles. I do a few finger exercises, breathe deeply, and make the preliminary leap to the very base of the mountain called NaNoWriMo. In November, I will make the climb (read: sprint) up this insanely precarious mountain.

Am I afraid? Terribly. But although I know I'll face exhaustion and mind-addling fogs and darkness and killer hunger pangs and the infamous NaNo Monster, I also know that the top of the mountain holds the promise of fifty thousand shiny, gold-encrusted words.

Okay, maybe they aren't all encrusted with gold. Some of them are rather dirty, trod upon, wrinkly, musty, moldy, crinkled, stale, muddy, torn, strained, wretched, warty, pig-nosed, frilly, sappy, cheesy, cliche, soggy, crunchy, rotten, and just plain dumb. NaNoWriMo is, truthfully, a garbage heap. But amid that garbage, if you are willing to look for it, is Brilliance.

That is why I climb. For Brilliance, that elusive and beautiful bird. Her friends Inspiration and Creativity trail her closely, often too slow. But sometimes, in a moment of sheer luck, or perhaps skill, all three of us work together and pluck a pretty feather.

Most importantly, I climb for the joy of climbing. There is nothing quite like losing yourself in the stretching of fingers, the repetitiveness of the tap-tapping keys, the magic of the black words filling blank, white space. And then there's the story.

So bring it on, NaNoWriMo. Let's make this a solid three for three.