The First 200 Words

Last night I put down the first words for my NANO novel.  A whopping 243 words before bed, my NANO stats inform me that I have 49, 859 words to go and at this rate I will finish around the fall of 2015.  I better get serious if I’m going to do this.

I’m finding the whole concept of NANOWRIMO very inspiring.  They have group sessions where groups of “WRIMOS” sit down together in the same room, not to meet or gossip but to ignore each other while typing madly away on their laptops. 

Then there’s the little stat chart that updates with my reported daily word counts.  It reports all sorts of interesting information and now serves as my muse, egging me on with all it’s emotionless disapproval.  “Words Per Day To Finish On Time: 1,847” it tells me.  Eeeeeep!

There’s also the sense of community.  It is inspiring to think that I’ve joined a massive mental movement like this.  Like being a sprout in the Redwood forest, I’m a small sprig of life in this huge interconnected undertaking.  Rather than working in a sealed environment, I am suddenly a part of a global literary effort.  The sense of novels growing all around me, swelling into existence is invigorating.

Yesterday on a NANO chat the question was posed, “Why do you write?”  There were so many great and inspiring answers.  Mine was “I write because I think with my fingers.”  Having so many fingers tapping alongside mine, sharing goals at the same time, feels something like touching the world with my mind.

I could get used to this.