November in Retrospect

Well, November's over and I did not write a novel. But here are some things I did do:

-made a t-shirt quilt
-learned how to waterfall braid
-homemade some gingersnaps
-finished my circuits lab
-realized I have my friends' Andy's orders memorized
-spent a glorious almost week in Texas
-wrote three lab reports
-ran a 5K
-went to one concert, performed in another
-watched multiple movies
-started AND FINISHED a scrapbook
-won an intramural soccer game
-completed three sets of heat transfer homework
-read multiple books
and probably more stuff that I can't remember just now.

Opportunity cost, folks.

(opportunity cost is the only thing econ-related I remember from econ. the other things I remember have to do with diamonds, flutes, John Stossel, spoons, pens, the Jonas Brothers, and Patrick Swayze.)

Molly Cook, Novelist

So, it's been November for about 16 and a half hours. Which means I have been a novelist for about 16 and a half hours...with 445 words to show for it. I'm supposed to have 1,667 words by tonight, based on the NaNoWriMo email I got a couple of days ago. I guess there won't be any NaNoWriMo police knocking down my door if I don't write the 1,667 words today, but still.

My 445 words so far are about a girl going to a coffee shop. Sounds intriguing, I know. But I'm thinking of making this coffee shop a sort of holding place in an author's head for possible characters, and this girl stumbles across it and befriends one of the "regulars" there, who is in fact a made up figment of this author's imagination. So one day the character disappears from the coffee shop because he's been plucked from the holding bin and put into one of the author's works and the girl goes on an adventure (or what have you) to go and find him/rescue him/whatever. Insert shrug and "I don't know" noise. Give me ideas and input, I beg of you, interwebz! I figured it would be best to write about things I know about, like being a girl. And books. And...going to coffee shops? "I don't know" noise once more. Is this lame? Seriously, y'all, help.

Based on the previous paragraph, target audience would probably be nerdy middle school girls. The "Future Mollys", if you will. So maybe I should add some dragons...

A New Project

Alright, nerds, I've gone and done it. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month. Yeeps. If you're not familiar with it/not too great at deduction, NaNoWriMo (yes, they call it that) is a full month devoted to writing a novel. November, to be exact. Anyone can do it, everyone should.

But Molly, you're a nuclear engineering major. Do you even know the first thing about writing a novel? Heck no. I'm freakin' out, man.

But Molly, you're a nuclear engineering major. Do you even have time to write a novel? Surprisingly, I have a lot of free time this semester. Yes, writing will probably cut into my Vlogbrother watching time, but I think participating in NaNoWriMo will protect my nerdfighter status.

But Molly, why? I guess I just like to do challenges and start projects. Yeah, it seems to be in vogue right now to challenge oneself by training and completing half marathons, but heck if you'll ever see me doing that. I get my kicks in a nerdier fashion. Sometimes it works out (Project 365 - wut wut!!!) and sometimes it's an admitted failure (eating "paleo" for maybe 9 days...), but if you're never brave enough to embark on new harebrained schemes, you'll never have weird things to write about on your blog.

So basically everyone should pester me during the entire month of November and ask how my novel is coming along so that I'll be too embarrassed to give up. Everyone should also sign up and write their own novels because writing makes you smarter. Besides, even if you're thinking "I can't do that. I can't write worth guano!" - your novel can never be worse than The Bean Trees. There's really no excuse.

And, yes, I have started watching 30 Rock, hence frequently referring to everyone as nerds, a la Liz Lemon.