OMG! BADGES!

It's almost time! The most magical time of the year! NaNoWriMo time! You don't know what this is? Are you kidding me? Are you the new kid on the writing block? Has no one yet pulled down your sweat pants, paddled your bottom and thrown you in the wastebasket?! 

Well, I'm not going to do any of that, because I'm not down with the bullying. Instead, let me tell you about it. It's a month of madness! The time: November. The length of time: 30 days. The goal: To write at least 50 thousand words (that's only 1667 words a day) and drink as much coffee and Diet Coke as humanly possible without winding up in the hospital. Well, those last two are optional. 

This will be my third NaNoWriMo. I won in 2009 and 2011, and to my shame, bailed after about a week in 2010. I don't know what it is about this time of the year... the nip in the air.. the patter of the dripping brew in the Mr. Coffee coffee machine... It's magical. It's not just starting any other book at any other time of the year. This is NaNo! Putting your shoulder to the wheel with (NaNoWriMo.org estimates) 300,000 other writers! There are funny videos on the NaNo site. There are emails from other famous and not-so famous writers for encouragement. Peptalks from the staff. There are regional people who try to lure you out of your cave of safety and protection and make you write in a coffee house or library, or some other place equally horrible and public... but you can ignore that if you wish, and just stay home with your cat and your dreams.... No one will judge you. And if you haven't showered or brushed your teeth in a few days because you've been sitting at your computer and pounding out your magical novel, no one probably wants to see you anyway. It's ok.

Your mom and dad still love you.

Unless you are Batman and they are dead.

So join us! Be one with the ravening hoard. Come to the Write Side! We have cookies! Delicious cookies. And you don't have to kill a bunch of younglings or get Natalie Portman pregnant.