Well, the countdown to November 1 has begun. For some it means growing facial hair, for some it means the all you can eat feast of Thanksgiving, for some it means Black Friday is approaching, but for me it means I'll be losing most of my "spare" time (and I say that in quotes because when you work full time, have a spouse and a child, do you really have spare time?) in front of a computer screen creating a fictitious world with made up characters who have problems of their own and find their happily ever after....maybe.
Yes, for the fourth time, I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month. What's that you say? Well, it's when I vow to attempt to write a novel that consists of 50,000 words in 30 days or less from start to finish, no writing ahead of time and no editing or anything like that. Heck. Sometimes I even ignore spell check!
I'm debating what I'm going to do and how I'm going to approach it this year. In years past I've done a variety of things. The first year I didn't know what I was going to write until I sat down at 11 pm (writing begins at midnight) and saw a small town newspaper and decided to write about an award winning apple pie, which turned into Blue Ribbon. The second time, I had a general idea, a main character and a sort of premise, but that evolved into something quite different than I intended with Wildflower (currently not published). The third time, I did the works. I started months ahead of time creating long outlines, character summaries of what the characters were like, who their families were, what they wanted out of life, the whole nine yards. I spent my lunch time walks and afternoon sun breaks in the park daydreaming about the character Allison and her life. My mom was in the hospital after complications from a surgery, I was working full time, my own personal life had some bumpy things going on in it and I had a three year old son to tend to. So having the distraction of Come Sail Away was a welcome distraction and a complete escape from my real life. So far, it's my favorite thing that I've written an in the months and year and a half that have followed (two years now) my life has had some major changes to it that resemble the main character's. 
I've thought up a title (which I'm actually toying with changing from Cozy Comfort Cafe to just Cozy Cafe, but for humor reasons I might leave as is) and I have a basic setting where things will be semi-centered. I just don't have details. I think I have the name for a character or two, but for the most part I'm going to let the characters surprise me with what they bring to the party. Admittedly and just between you and me and whoever reads this; I'm a little nervous. I have not written in two years. I have taken a sabbatical to pursue love, knitting and just living my life. I'm excited to be getting back, but still a little nervous about getting my groove back.
I guess I have three days left now. Eeeps! In a sense, it will be better when I am in the thick of it just going at it with a cup of coffee and some emergency chocolate by my side! At any rate, it will definitely be interesting to see what comes out onto the page this year. 
If you have ever had any interest in writing or just find yourself up to the challenge go to the icon at the top of my blog or just go to www.nanowrimo.org and check it out and join me. You don't have to be a great writer to give this a shot.