With Day 2 behind me and Day 3 just beginning, I feel as though I am getting into my stride early.

I am fortunate to have a slight advantage over some of the new writers in NaNoWriMo in that I have spent many years writing.  During several of those years, I even worked at it full-time, writing between 14-16 hours a day even.  This kind of manic writing where nothing else enters your mind does not frighten me.

Day two is coming to a close. My word count is at nearly 3000 words. By the time you read this, it may very well be up and over that because I plan on writing until Midnight, and then slamming the rest of my Coors Light tall can, and heading off to bed. Chris is going to take the first feeding of the night so I should be able to rest well.

This is the most mind-draining/mind-exhilarating journey ever for me. So many stories are flooding my mind. 

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I am at a lost for words when it comes to how much I have missed writing. Call me a sap, but I have nearly been to tears the last hour while writing. There are so many suppressed and pent-up feelings inside of me--so many things I want to say, and I am finally at the point in my life where I feel healed and oh-so-ready to say what I want to say. For those of you who read this, and who have not had the chance to talk to me in person (or on AIM), I am writing a memoir. Albeit a highly fictionalized memoir because everyone knows the memory of a 5-year-old is faulty, it is nonetheless my life. I am a former trailer park kid, and the stigmata of it has been etched deep into me.

Aaaaaaannnnnnnnd we’re off.

November 1st brought about a little writing and a lot of alcohol (within reason… it’s not like I was slurring my speech or falling off of my chair).  Call it nerves or fear, I just kept topping my drink.  I can see how writers lean toward alcoholism… the two just seem to walk hand in hand (presumably to keep each other from falling over).

I got just over a thousand words (1073 to be exact) written last night.  It’s important to note that with my wife out of town on business, I’m doing more around the house and with the kids which takes up a lot of my time in the evenings.  Also, my youngest daughter had her semi-final flag football game last night (they lost), so we didn’t get home till later.

As some of you may be aware, I have chosen to take part in NaNoWriMo this year.  For those who are not in the ‘know’, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month.  Basically, you are expected to write 50,000 words during the month of November.  Yes… 50,000 words.

I didn’t come by this decision easily.  I work full-time, have a large family (wife, four kids and a needy dog), not to mention a lot of interests which take up a lot of my time.  That being said however, NaNoWriMo is a finite project (has a very clear end-date).  I can handle that.

Just a few days left until I begin....

November 1st marks the first day of Nanowrimo--something I learned about my first semester of school as a journalism minor--when insane people from around the globe attempt to write 50,000 words in one month (yes, there are no typos in that phrase--fifty-thousand words in thirty days); and it also marks the day I embark on writing my first novel/memoir called “Tales from a (Former) Trailer Park Kid,” right along with these crazy people. I seriously doubt I will hit even the 25,000-word mark, but I sure as hell can try. 

Write about having one’s head in the clouds, wishing they were thinner.

“colder...” was all it whispered,
  its voice as soft as a child,
  its intent as powerful as
  its being.
i struggled with my passions,
  with my life and with
  my choices.

“colder...”

“i can no longer play this
  game.” i spoke finally,
  removing the veil from
  before my eyes.

and the world appeared…
my steps behind me…
and a path off in the distance…

cold and confused, i attempted
  to continue.