Plot bunnies . . . or killer rabbits?

So NaNo has started.  The first time I saw that name I heard Robbin Williams from Mork and Mindy Nanaonanao.  Yes, I am old, shush, don’t tell anyone.  I first did NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2003.  It started in 2000 in San Francisco with only a few people involved.  By 2003 they had a web site and it spread.

Sort of like a zombie thing, as anyone who has done NaNo knows, this is how you will look at the end of the month, especially if you were not a 2 k a day writer before NaNo.

Around here, on Oct. 31^st, we wait for the clock to hit midnight,there is a lot of pacing, coffee drinking, and arguments over who will make the next pot. I pants it, no outline, maybe only a vague idea of what I will write. My daughter had hers planned out this year, she is writing the back story for one of her characters in a finished novel.  The non-writers in the house hover nervously, as they know that dishes won’t get done, beds won’t be made, and rarely slept in, coffee will vanish as if it were air.  And those of us who do this insane thing, talk a sort of texting short hand for NaNo.

Can you take the dog out?    300 hundred words to go.

When you get coffee, can you make some more?    Hell no, a plot bunny bit me.

Do we have any clean spoons?     Spoon? What’s a spoon, oh wait, my MC can use that to get out of hole he fell in, thanks!

Is it insane to do this year after year?  Maybe, but when you think about it, not really.  It’s a little less than 1700 words per day.  That really isn’t very many.  About 7 standard MS pages. It’s the challenge of making yourself do something that maybe you never did before, finish a novel, write every day, connect with other writers who speak your language. I’ve “won” every year since I did it except one.  Last year I did over 160k in one month, we shall see if the muse is kind and the plot bunnies helpful or rabid . . . 

Rabbit Poster here

Unless you are a writer, then open arms and welcome plot bunny!