I'm a NYNNie

Have you heard of national novel writing month, NANOWRIMO? Well, my friend Carmela Martino has now created NYNN, New Year/New Novel. It's just like NANOWRIMO, but it takes place in January, and as absurd as it sounds, I'm going to try to do it. The idea is to write a 50,000-word draft of a manuscript in one month. Participants are called NYNNies (or writing fools). Today I had nothing major to do for myself or my family, so I decided to test out the feeling of writing 2000 words in a day.

I ended up with 619. And now I'm so sleepy I just want to take a nap.

Is it possible to write 2000 words in a day? Is it kind of like lifting weights in the way it gets easier if I do it on a regular basis? Will I be able to care for a family and a puppy and still write that much? Will I have to take a break from karate? Laundry? Grocery shopping? Will my family pick up the slack?

I definitely like the idea of turning off my inner critic and whipping out a first draft like this. I like the intensity of it. I like being called a NYNNie. And January looks pretty open on my calendar.

I think this might be the closest I'll ever come to running a marathon. People train for marathons, right? So I should think of this time as training. 619 isn't so bad. It's like running a mile or two. You gotta start somewhere.

I think I can I think I can I think I can...