A word to fellow WriMo-ers...

And after what seemed like an eternity, NaNoWriMo is finally here! Whether you're prepared or unprepared, nervous or excited, one thing remains the same: we have quite the road laid out before us!

For new WriMo-ers:
I want to wish everyone good luck as you start your novel! 50K may seem like a huge number when you're starting ("once upon a time..." only 49,996 words to go!) but you'd be surprised at how fast that number dissolves. Just remember to keep writing. You're putting together a novel in a month... do not worry about quality. Do not worry about whether or not it is understandable. Remember that, when you write the first draft, you are writing for yourself. You need not worry about the reader until you re-write. For now, just write. Write so you can say you did. Write so that you can call yourself an author. Write because you love it. And no matter how stressful things get, no matter how many tricks you need to deploy in order to reach that word count, never stop writing. You can do this!

For returning WriMo-ers: 
What is wrong with us? Haha. For those of you that have written with me before, I'm looking forward to another stressfun month! For those of you that haven't written with me before but are doing so this year: looking forward to it just as much!! To those who simply listen to me cry about writer's block and offer encouragement: you're probably not looking forward to this BUT THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

Keep your chins up and keep on truckin'. We know what to expect... but don't let that discourage you! HA. Good luck to all of you.

For everyone: 
For some reason, I felt it was a good idea to read Stephen King's On Writing for the second time a few days ago. I didn't get all the way through, but I did come across a quote that meant nothing to me the first time through, but that I think applies to NaNo very well.

The most important [thing I learned from writing Carrie] is that the writer's original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader's. Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatoively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel **** from a sitting position.