Kick-Off Write-In

It's been a strong first day for NaNoWriMo so far.

I went to a write-in at a local IHOP last night.  It was packed - at least forty writers in the back room once reserved from smokers.  Apparently it started at ten pm, but I didn't arrive until a little after twelve, so I missed introductions.  It became clear throughout the night, however, that there were two groups of people: those there to work, and those there to party.

Also clear: different folks had very different goals for NaNoWriMo.  There was a group of young girls, apparently doing it for a lark, challenging each other to include silly words picked at random from the dictionary and various people spotted in the restaurant.  For my table-mate, NaNoWriMo was motivation to write the fourth book in her YA science fiction series.  She refered constantly to a dense sheet of notes and spent a lot of time meditating on her next move.  For others, it seemed to be a typing contest; there were ten-minute challenges every hour, the winners of which logged between six and seven hundred words.  All of these were in the spirit of NaNoWriMo - I'm not judging.

I had 3229 words of coherent narrative by the time I left at 4am (which was actually almost five hours of writing thanks to the blessed time change) because the group had wittled down to mostly the loudest and most distracting partiers - and because it was cold enough to freeze peas in that room.  IHOP had had enough of us.  I left a $10 tip.

I've written a bit more today and should have several additional writing hours tonight.  My goal is to get 5000 words complete in these first twenty-four hours.  Check the progress bar to see if I make it.

More thoughts to come.