I get a little squee of joy whenever I think about NaNo.

It’s because of the camaraderie. I’ve done other NaNo-esque months on my own (last June I did 70K on Embers in a month) but they are never the same. More of a slog. Frustrating and lonely. Running a marathon on one’s own is not the same as with a crowd (I am assuming since I don’t run marathons; my feeling is if God had wanted me to run marathons, they would have invented a better sports bra). I’m active in NaNo’s forums and on Twitter all through November, and that’s the difference. This year I even plan on hosting an informal write-in on Sunday nights at our neighbourhood Starbucks, which has a big table, and I’m really looking forward to seeing who turns up.

Mostly settled on what to write. I would say 70% chance I will work on a new novel, set in the Melanie-verse. That leaves 30% chance that my brain will say NO NO NO NO NO and I will end up working on Embers again. I would rather use NaNo to start and finish a single draft in one go, but whatevs. As long as I am writing again every day I don’t care.

I’ve purposefully arranged my schedule of projects so that November is left (creatively) alone. And on that note, I’m happy to announce that Grace & Victory’s latest project, Becoming Beast by Laura Dehaan, will be launching on Halloween! Hooray! It’s a great story, and while the cover is still a W.I.P., I am pretty proud of it so far. Next week Laura is guest-posting with her take on Things I Wish People Would Ask Me At Parties, so that will be fun. And rambly.

Have you signed up for NaNo yet? Have any ideas? Are you a plotter, or a pantser like me?