For some reason, humans love to tack on challenges to the month of November. No Shave November and 30 Days of Gratitude are perhaps two of the best known and most popular quests in the 11-month of each year. Why do we do this? Because the end of the year is coming and we want to make it count? I don’t know, but writers are not immune to the call of November and have their own specific challenge known as NaNoWriMo which is short for National Novel Writing Month. And yes, they really do mean write a novel. In a month!

For a long time now, I’ve had the idea knocking against my brain that I need to write a book. And not a memoir or personal-based book as this blog would probably lead you to believe since that’s what I write here. I’m talking fiction.

There’s no basis for this since I haven’t written fiction with any serious focus since the fourth grade when I was a very prolific author of little books that I wrote and designed covers for in my spare time at school (I kid you not – there was one about school, shaped like a bell). But also? I can’t make the notion go away. I’m supposed to write a book. It’s supposed to be fiction. And even more specifically? It’s supposed to be a Romance.

Some of you may know, from my reading logs and social media posts that I started reading Romance in earnest in 2020. A friend had shared some titles with me prior to that and I enjoyed them, but when the world turned upside down in the pandemic, I found myself in an awful reading slump and I just could not bring myself to read anything heavy when the world already felt like Too Much on a daily (hourly) basis. So I did a deep dive into Romance books and I’ve never looked back in the three and a half years since.

I’ve now read dozens (probably 100, actually) and have some absolute favorite Romance authors (Jasmine Guillory, Casey McQusiton, and Ashley Herring Blake are forefront in my mind) and I will legit read anything they write. Romance comes with a lot of stereotypes and judgment, but I stand by the notion that to read such books – about women, often by women, and showcasing the pleasure of women – is an act of rebellion because so much of society really doesn’t like any of those things. And apparently, it’s now my turn to try that style of writing. Ready or not, get set, GO!

Except, I am ready. Or mostly. And I have amazing support and guidance thanks to the Not Sorry Productions workshop that is happening in Oct/Nov in which the amazing folks behind the Hot and Bothered Podcast (omg – I listened to seasons Five and Six about Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, respectively and they were like auditing the best possible college lectures ever. I adored them and highly, highly recommend them) are leading us through the preparations for NaNoWriMo and the production of 50,000 words of our very own novels, but of course, with a Romance genre in mind.

I feel ready to tackle that mountain of words because I already have my story in mind. I know my two main leads. I know their circles of friends and family. I know my troupe (Romance is alllll about the formulaic troupes which is again, part of the comfort and joy that comes from reading them). And I know my reason for writing. I won’t share any of that at this point, but I wanted to throw this quest out there to the ether in part to let you know what’s going on in my world and in part for accountability.

November is going to be a wild ride. In addition to teaching my four classes, we have two birthdays, a day off from school, a 5-day holiday break, and – as we just found out this week – a kid getting tonsils out in the last 10 days of the month. And I’m going to write 1,666 words a day and attend 1.5 hours Zooms every Sunday from now until December? Yes, yes I am. Which is why NOvember is going to be about the NOvel and about saying “NOt right now” to pretty much anything else. Except maybe coffee deliveries and messages of support, both of which I will greatly appreciate as I take on this pipe dream of a creative journey.

Is this a good time for this journey? NO it’s not (you see what I did there, yes?). But there will never be a good time and I might as well do it now because, well, why not?! Why the heck not.

Maybe I’ll pop on here during the month with a check in or when I get stuck in that writing, but either way, thanks as always for reading and check back soon. I’ll definitely have a story to tell about the story I’m writing come December. And in the meantime, I’ll be staring at this Post-It in my cloffice that’s an Anne Lamott quote/writing reference that I have long loved: