November?

Dear me, how can it be November again? And yes, I know it always catches me unaware, and every year I behave as though I’d never seen a November before…

“Oh, look – a November! I’d heard about these, but I wasn’t even sure they truly existed. And yet here it is… (pokes) How very bizarre!”

No, let’s face it: it’s not even a matter of having any sense. If I really, truly meant to do NaNoWriMo, I’d be perfectly able to think ahead, plan, and prepare in time. Or, if not perfectly, well enough to suit. Well, it must be said that, this past October, what with Il Pasticciaccio, Shakespeare in Words and Oedipus, I hardly knew what way I was facing – but still. All else apart, reminders are not exactly lacking up and down the Internet, are they? Since early October, one can hardly throw an e-stone without hitting some post, article or website about preparing for NaNoWriMo…

More than that, if I really wanted, I could even jump in today, in spite of not having prepared in October: there is this reasonably planned novel waiting to be written, not to mention a decent first half of another one – and both could really use the spurt.

And yet, no: I’m not doing NaNoWriMo. So it must be that I don’t really want to do it?

I won’t go again into how and why, for me, November is about the worst possible month – but even without that,  this year, the answer is no, I don’t really want to. After all, I’ve just finished a novel – and waiting to hear about it. I’m just out of a wonderful and slightly harrowing month theatre-wise, and will begin to teach playwriting to the Company’s pupils in a few weeks… I’m not sure I need the month-long pressure of 1666 words per day.

Still…

You knew there was going to be a “still”, right? Still, no novel – but what about a play? There is this two-act thing I’ve wanted to write for ages. I’ve done my homework, read, planned, and even pre-written a little since last June, but in a rather lackadaisical way… so, what if I gave myself the goal of doing it already? Two acts in four weeks: it’s perfectly doable, right?

So I think I’ll borrow the name of the now defunct (?) NaPlWriMo, and give it a try. The Play Without a Working Title it is – think of it as a literary murder? Or maybe not… well, I’ll let you know.

What about you? Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Or NaSomethingElseWriMo?