Less than a month before the pre-NaNo madness begins. I've pretty much settled on one story idea, and I can't wait to start typing it out. However, I have to get some kind of intro outline before November, like a gist of the first five chapters. I have to see where the story may go otherwise I may end up getting stuck. And, unlike last year, I don't really know much about my characters or how many I have. Coming up with names off the top of my head is not always easy. Sure, if the need calls for it, I can try to come up with a name, especially if one part of the story requires a character I haven't created. And a kind of plot idea would be nice. Some people say NaNoWriMo is exciting if you start off with no plot. I can see that. But I get frustrated if I'm stuck with nowhere to go. Just the gist of the first five chapters. We'll see how it ends.

Here's what I know. This story is most definitely NOT a sequel to last year's NaNo. (I may end up writing that sequel next NaNo or whenever I feel like it ought to be done. Not this NaNo, though. I have to edit that story first. And that doesn't sound like fun.) I know some about the main character, like where she stands in her society and all that, but I don't know her name yet, nor exactly how she looks like, nor her relationships with everyone. But she ought to be a fun character to write about.

I also don't know the title of the story yet. I kind of have to get a glimpse at where my plot is going before I can come up with a tentative title for it. I don't know who or what the villain is or what problem is presented in the story. I just have a smidgen of background information. But it ought to be an exciting story once it gets off the ground.

The best part about NaNo this year is that it starts on a Saturday. I hope I can get somewhere around 10k of the story done that weekend. Hey, if I can get more than that done, I'll be happy. I won't have to worry about week 2's slump on the first weekend. If the story's doing well, I may be able to finish the 50k part of the competition before half of November's done. But, seeing how my schedule's like, that looks...nigh impossible. So much typing...Hopefully I won't be preoccupied with the story I'm currently editing. I want to get that out of the way by the end of December, and right now progress on that is going just okay. For the type-up part (yes, I wrote the whole story longhand on paper...that's why it took me so long) I've gotten chapters 1-16 typed up. Out of 41 (excluding the epilogue, although that ought to take no more than 5-10 min MAX to type up). That's just typing up. I want to get it edited (or at least half of it edited) by the end of the year. I've got a little more than half of September, all of October, and all of December (almost all...that's a busy time of year) to get it nice and shiny. SUPER EDITING, FOR THE WIN.

The closer NaNo gets, the more I'll post. Until then.