I’ve long had the sense that one day I would write a book. That book would be followed by many other books. I think of a book because it is a familiar genre to me. I read books. I also read a lot of blogs, essays, and watch a lot of videos. So, it’s conceivable that my creative medium could be something other than a book. But, for now, I see myself writing a book.

In a few days, it will be November, which is also NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/). I’ve vaguely considered participating in NaNoWriMo in the past, usually after someone enthusiastically posts something about it on Facebook around the first of November, only to have it peter out in the following weeks. This year, the temptation to write a book is more real. Since finishing graduate school, I’ve been much more creative.

The problem is that because I am an academic, November is not the best month for me. May through August would be better. Even December might be doable. The point is that I could see myself actually using NaNoWriMo to write my first novel. What an exciting prospect! I’m not saying I’ll begin in three days, but I do see myself using it in the next year or two when I am actually ready to sit down and write. I think dedicating a month to writing would be just the push I need to take on such a heavy task.

Here’s the thing, I really want to write. I have a few ideas in mind about what I want to write. That said, I’m not sure what will become of a novel if I write it. Of course I would try to get it published. I know a lot of people who have written a novel, but can’t get it published. They force their friends and loved ones to read it. It nags at their subconscious, but nothing ever happens. In fact, I currently have some sort of psychological sci-fi thriller on my bookshelf that I am supposed read under similar circumstances–some book that a friend of a friend wrote and it somehow becomes the friend’s job to push the book on to any literate person she can find. (I cannot tell you how much a psychological sci-fi thriller is not my genre.) Anyway, I’m not really worried about that because forcing people to read my stuff stopped being even remotely tempting about mid-way through my first graduate degree. There’s some element of ego and self-promotion that I am not comfortable with. Don’t get me wrong, some people are still forced to read my work (on the rare occasion that I do produce something), and I can count those people on one hand and they know who they are and I would do the same for them.

My point is just that I think that NaNoWriMo is a something that could work for me. I just don’t think I could do it during the month of November. Maybe next summer? Who’s going to hold me to it?