Man, I picked a bad month to try to re-start this blog. Nothing gets in the way of blogging quite like deciding to write 50,000 words in thirty days. Well, almost nothing. Decapitation can get in the way of blogging. In fact, most dismemberment leads to blogging slowdown. My point is that I was do busy writing that I didn’t want to stop and then… well, write some more. But hey, I got 50,000 words done. The last four days were on the hellish side because I foolishly chose to visit relatives over Thanksgiving.

“I can write 1,667 words a day while I’m in Kansas City,” I said to whomever would listen. “I’ll just do it in the morning.”

Well, I fell a little short of that goal. I wrote four sentences. And one fragment.

So when I got back I had to set a schedule of 4,000 words each day in order to make today’s deadline. That’s twice as many as Stephen King types in a day and, as my dad put it once, “he’s possessed by a demon that types.” The event doesn’t actually end until tomorrow, but at five tomorrow morning I’m jumping into my bat mobile and cruising out to LA for some partying, picketing and panhandling. No time for the words.

And hey, here’s a fun cap of my Facebook page. Lookie how you can track my progress through the day:

The novel itself isn’t done. It’ll weigh about 80 thousand when it’s done. But it’s a hell of a start. And it isn’t terrible. Of course, it helped, especially during the dreary moments, that I’m merely expanding an already-written screenplay into novel form, so there was little to none of the floundering that so many participants took to. The flounder factor was high at NaNoWriMo HQ, especially in the early days. It was a veritable jubilee.

For me the floundering happened when I tried to remember how to write in prose form. Too many years spent writing screenplays had tenses switching without warning, dialog indenting beyond all reason and character names capitalizing of their own volition. But I figured it out and now the patient is breathing on its own.

Special thanks go to Clare & The Reasons, Erik Enocksson, The Wedding Present, Earlimart (as usual–you can listen to their marvelous new album at the site), Dawn Landes, White Rainbow, Frank Zappa (thanks to my uncle, Andrew, who re-informed me of Zappa’s coolness), Dave Seaman, Sonny Boy Williamson, Nicole Atkins, and of course, Michelle Branch (yes, that Michelle!) for providing the soundtrack for the effort. There are also too many prog house producers to mention, but there were a lot of them as well.

As for me? I’m taking a break. Amoeba’s Holiday party beckons (one last time) and the producers have brought forth a “groundbreaking proposal” and the writers have commenced blasting it. Gotta go see if they want me to carry a sign.

And when I get back, I’ve got to tackle the NaNo pudge that crept around my middle whilst sitting at Santa Fe Baking Company for hours on end. Maybe a Cabbage Soup Diet lies in my future…