The year 2009 is as exciting as a blank page. What will you write on it?

I have some ideas for how I want to write my story this year.

Although he calls it the Freelance National Anthem, I think this speaks to freelancers around the world, nation non-exclusive.

For the record, I work in my pajamas.

Alternate link: Freelancers National Anthem, by Bill Dyszel

Add to that the article I turned in yesterday, two days early, and I’m feeling pretty smug.

And then when I think about the week’s worth of laundry (NEXT week’s) that is just about finished in the dryer, I might even be able to convince myself that I am supermom.

Groceries bought and put away.
House orderly and clean.
Weekend plans set.
Supper cooking in the pot.

Yes, I am looking pretty good. This happens every November, because November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short). It’s when non-fiction writers like me think they should probably take another shot at that novel they’ve always wanted to write, if only to convince themselves that they should stick to non-fiction. NaNo participants all have the same goal: to write 50,000 words of their novel in 30 days.

It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy. (And who ever decided it should be in November, anyway? Isn’t this month busy enough with all the holiday planning?) The first time I did NaNo, I had characters, something of a plot, and tremendous zeal for my project.

I made it to somewhere in the neighborhood of 11,000 words.

That’s not 50,000.

But I did have the cleanest house in the lower 48 and even took up YOGA for goodness sake. NaNo does this to me. Suddenly I have other, very important things to do. And even though I recognize that I’m procrastinating, I still do it. Like writing this blog post. It was very important that I post this right now, three days early. You can understand that, can’t you?

Em. Oh, yeah. So here it is:

Friday – Chili (Mmm)

Saturday – Chili (Mmm-Mmm! It’s even better the next day.)

Sunday – Spiral Ham with baked potatoes and Southern-style collard greens (Charmian, close your eyes for this next part) The collard greens are from a can.

Monday – Tilapia, spinach, and maybe some risotto – although that would require another trip to the store.

Tuesday – Ham-n-beans. I can’t do anything about this. The family loves it. They must have ham-n-beans after we cook a spiral ham, every time.

Wednesday – Texican (tostados)

Thursday – The fake, redneck kind of Beef Stroganoff. Hey, at least I use real cream.

Friday – Pizza

Saturday – You really expect me to be able to think that far in advance? I think it’s a birthday weekend, so we’ll probably go out.

Sunday – Something awesome.

There you have it! Now, onto organizing my digital photos…. Nah, I’m kidding…. There’s that laundry to fold.

Another resource for newbies is the blog of another friend of mine called The Freshman Writer. There’s a lot new writers can relate to here. She has posts up right now on how to decide what you want to write about.