It’s November 1, the first day of National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo, a.k.a., NaNo. Still don’t know what it is? Here’s the skinny.

Starting November 1, “participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.” — National Novel Writing Month

So I signed up. I’m one of the “participants.” Again.

I did it last year, November 2017. My first time. And I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work. It got a little rough at times. There may have been some crying and drivel involved. Possibly a tiny epidural was administered at the end of the month. But, hey, I made it through.

And when NaNo was over, I felt almost euphoric. There was a “wow, I did it” moment. I looked at my completed manuscript with a sense of inner peace. “I’m so glad I signed up.” I cooed at my 50,000 words with joy. “It was worth it.” My NaNoWriMo project. My little creation.

Months slipped by, seasons passed, and November 2018 started to loom. “Are you going to do NaNo again?” people asked.

Of course, I thought. I’m proud of the 50,000 words I wrote last year. My little creation wasn’t so bad.

Or was it?

In flashes, I remembered what my creation was actually like. The grammatical errors. The cliches. The go-to-phrases that I went to over and over again. The parts that were creative mush.

Okay, it wasn’t all bad.

There was a section that contained a few glimmers of literary prose. But, unfortunately, it was followed by another where I literally wrote, “Research more about locks from 1882 and put info here.”

There were times when I plugged away at my word count when I would rather have watched “This Is Us.” And there were times when I wondered why I signed up anyway. Would the manuscript be salvageable after November 30?

I remembered all of those things when I thought about signing up for NaNoWriMo this year. But I also recalled that euphoric feeling, the sense of accomplishment—knowing that I never wrote that much in one month as I did then. And being able to answer my own question: Yes, the manuscript will be salvageable after Nov. 30. Barely. But, yes.

So I did it. I signed for NaNoWriMo this year. I also warned my husband, “I’m doing that write-50K-words-a-month-thing again.” And he said, “Good for you. It’s okay. I still remember how to give you the epidural.”

Are you participating in National Novel Writing Month?

Check out my post from last year: