this is crazy

NaNoWriMo is a name I had in the back of my mind since this time, last year.  Its a crazy project for people who go into crazy mode for a month writing a 50,000 word novel (a work of lengthy fiction) in a month.  The folks who came up with the craziness rightly theorize that people who want to write put it off because of schedule, because they need to research more, or their writing is not perfect.  So, we never get started.  This is a way to get the whole process a massive voltage of electricity to get it running.  Its crazy.

What am I doing? Full time job.  Kids.  I am not ready.  I only came up with a title this morning!  I've got a million  and one excuses not to do this.

Yet, here I am. When I wake up in the middle of the night and I want to go back to sleep, my mind tells stories - like a movie that I watch.  Usually, I get to about the first few scenes, and I fall asleep.  Sometimes, the story really stays with me, and I start thinking about it during other parts of the day, and I can't let it go until I've thought the whole story through.  But, what I learned is that it only stays with me a short time.  These stories have a shelf life.  They start to degrade if they are not transferred out of my brain.  Unfortunately, no one has invented something that mimics the Harry Potter spell where you can put your memories is a phial.  So, maybe doing Nantional Novel Writing Month, joining the community and sharing my story with a few friends will help that. 

I don't know.  This is crazy. 

What I write is such drivel.  I know no one will like it.  Its like when you say something that makes complete sense to you in your head, but then it is spoken out loud and no one gets it.  Normally, if I start something like a poem, I have to rewrite it a million times and even then I don't like it when it is finished.  And, couldn't we have a "write a short story in a month" kind of thing, first?  This is crazy!

Then again, I turn 40 next week. Maybe I feel like letting a little crazy into my life.

I also made a promise to myself that I would eventually write a historic fiction based on the family history I inherited from my grandfather.  Maybe I will be in better shape to tackle that project if I can get something like this out of my system.

So, what I have in my head is a murder mystery that starts in the National Archives and ends in small, Catholic school somewhere in the Midwest.  The main character is being pursued by a killer who has already murdered most of his family.  He is trying to find clues about the mysterious assassin's vendetta while running for his life. 

O.K.... let the craziness begin (God help me).

Oh, and when this is done?  I may sleep for the whole week, after.  Just sayin'!