National Novel Writing Month: 50,000 words in 30 Days

November of every year is when this open competition takes place. The ground rules all participants must adhere to are simple: write 50,000 (or more) words of a new novel, provided that the only words that can be included in the official word count must be written between November 1 and November 30. The sponsors stress that in November the focus is on quantity not quality; December is for editing.

This is my first year of participation, having just learned of its existence while browsing the deeply engrossing blogs hosted by scienceblogs.org on November 1. After thinking about it for a bit, I signed on shortly before midnight, then begain writing in the wee small hours of November 2. In the first seven days of writing, my word count has gone from 0 to 14,000 plus, so, yeah, I am quite confident I will hit the target on time, and will join the thousands of other winners.

During November, if long gaps of time develop between posts on this blog, it's because I am up to my hair follicles chipping away toward the 50,000 word target one word at a time. Still, I find the fiction writing process to be quite enjoyable (so far), and, since this first manuscript is intended to use my trans autobiography as a backdrop for exploring the interplay between family dysfunctionality and trans identity development as well as the question about the nature and nurture aspects of transgendered identity formation. Suffice to say, this first 50,000 words is just that -- the first 50,000.