Random Rambles

Last night was the first meeting of my new in-person critique group. I'm so excited! Everyone involved (even those who couldn't make it to the meeting last night for various reasons) is fantastic and I'm really looking forward to getting into the groove of actually turning stuff in again. That's yet another plus of critique groups: accountability. I don't know about you, but I feel guilty and terrible if I don't have something to give to the group just because I was lazy that week. Busy, on vacation and sick are acceptable excuses for the most part, but can definitely be abused, which makes me feel guiltier. So I have to write at the very least twenty pages a month, hopefully more. That'll be so much better than what I've been doing recently! Woohoo! Who wants to join me in a happy dance?

And on the "oh, no, I have no time; what am I going to do?!" side of things: National Novel Writing Month is fast approaching. For the last few years, I've had at least an inkling of what I want to write. Last year, I even had characters and a vague plot and some pretty intense world building before I went in, and I won for the first time in three years. This year, I have nothing. Nada. Not even a specific character I really want to work with. There's still almost a full month left, but I'm starting to get nervous. Can I really work on three different books at the same time? Which one will have to suffer to get a NaNo out? And I can't just not do NaNo, when I've attempted every year since my sophomore year of high school (that's six years, for those who are curious; and I've won thrice). I guess it's time for some major brainstorming! Maybe I'll try a new genre this year or something. Anyone else trying NaNo this year? I could use someone to word war with.