let's do this novel writing thing

So, apparently, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I had no plans to, considering I am expecting a baby soon and don't know when I'll sleep, eat, or shower, much less write. But, I have a bad habit of committing to overly ambitious goals, so this is right up my alley.

I'm actually looking forward to it. The story I'm going to be working on is the middle-grade humorous fantasy I've been contemplating for a few weeks now. NaNoWriMo seems like the perfect time to bang out a first draft. My writing muscles need stretching, and if I do it right, I should have a lot of fun working on this one. I'm not plotting or planning anything out, and as I write this post, all I have to go on is a loose premise, some vague scene ideas, and a handful of unnamed characters, and that's all I plan to have come November 1st. If I get stuck while writing, which I undoubtedly will, I have a mantra that I'm going to print out and stick above my computer: think of the most absurd, silliest thing that could possibly happen... and do that.

This is going to be a fun story. It's going to be fun to write, and hopefully fun to read (when the day comes).

Because I can't help it, I went ahead and wrote up a blurb based on the handful of ideas that I do have and designed a mock cover.

Wizardry Schmizardry

[a middle-grade fantasy]

Alden thinks his life is over whenever he's apprenticed to a wizard on the town’s naming day. Disowned and abandoned by his disappointed family and friends, he’s expected to amount to nothing but a lazy old man who does nothing but chant, draw circles, and wave his hands around as if it means something. 

Taken far from his humble home of hay-thatched houses and predawn chores, where hard labor is worth more than potions and portals, Alden leaves his mundane life to become a wizard's apprentice. But when faced with fairy kings, unruly spells, and dark portents of an ominous sort, he'll discover that wizardry is a bit more complicated and a lot more work than he ever expected.

And it's fun.

I'm going to write 50,000 words in November. I'm not going to try to write that many words. I'm going to do it. No excuses. Which means that I have to find time to sit down and write a little bit every day until it all adds up. It'll be good practice for when I go back to working on my other novels.

But, until then, I'm looking forward to working on something that I don't have to take seriously at all. In fact, the less serious I am about it, the better it's likely to be.

If you want to keep up with my progress on it in the month of November, be sure to follow me on Facebook or Google+ where I'll post word count updates and snippets from the story as I write it. And you can add me on the NaNoWriMo website.