October Novel Prep Challenge

Ever notice that in the US, Election Day is right after Halloween? There's a reason for that. It's because by the time Election Day happens, we're all out of adrenaline, and just can't be frightened any more. Additionally, we're still riding a sugar rush and will do stupid things, like vote for politicians based on their promises. Lately, they've been compounding the problem by throwing the end of Daylight Saving Time into that post-Halloween, pre-Election Day period as well. Tired from sleep schedule changes, burned-out limbic system, liquid sugar running through our veins - we'd vote for anyone. And, clearly, it's working... for the politicians.

Fortunately, this year is an off-year for US elections, so there's not much at stake (that's a vampire pun, by the way), unless, like me, you live in Virginia, where there's a gubernatorial election. Can you say gubernatorial, kids? I knew you could. It's a fun word to say, isn't it? Like arugula, or crepuscular. Who's running in the gubernatorial election? Hell if I know, but I'm certain we're boned either way. Last year burned me out on elections, and besides, I'm all out of scared.

Oh yeah, scary stuff. That's what I was talking about.

Looking at a blank document, cursor blinking in the upper left, and you've already fiddled with font size, style and paragraph formatting options - that's scary. Especially when you know you're about to try to fill it with 50,000 or more words.

But by the time you're there, Halloween will be over. You're all out of scared. Nothing to be frightened of, anyway. Just start writing. Like I just did: all I had in mind when I started this post was the initial question. No idea where it would go, except that I'd find some way to relate it to NaNoWriMo.

Write.

Just write.

And to quote one of the greatest, most influential movies of all time:

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/fd/fd1163428f3a930756d1babb67db5adf557daaf02f53f2a06...