what have i gotten myself into?

Ever since Websnark did the National Novel Writing Month thing last year, I've been wanting to give it a try. Basically, the online version has been going on since I started college. Now that I'm done, I actually have the time to do it. I figure this may be the last November where I don't have a real job and don't need to get one, so I signed up as a participant. See my little icon? This is my version of a marathon, I suppose. I haven't done any training, though--I have no idea what to write about, and I never really make page count on my papers. I also never write fiction. So the question is, do I go full out and create something from scratch, or do I do what most beginning novelists do and write from personal experience. The latter feels like a cop-out, but I think that's what I may have to do, faced with writing 50,000 words starting November 1st. At this point, I don't even care if I finish by November 30th or not. While I know it is physically possible for me to type 2000 words a day (I did it all the time when I had to write papers), I don't know my writing speed for fiction at all. Maybe it's a lot easier. Maybe it'll be worse.

Apparently, there's a group at my local Borders that meets every Saturday. I feel like I should go, seeing as how the writer's group for all of NaNoWriMo L.A. is meeting in Torrance. These things never meet in Torrance. It's just... not done. Too bad I like the Barnes & Nobel better. Free wireless, and they don't try to kick out out of the cafe after half an hour. Although maybe that's changed since the last time I actually stayed longer than 30 minutes at a Borders five years ago (before they built the Barnes right next door and closer to the mall.) Maybe I'll rebel and go to Barnes while they're all at Borders. Mwahahaha... ahem. In any case, here goes nothing. I'll post some bits if I like them enough, but that may not happen ever in the next month or so. This blog will either be updated all the time or never, depending on how much I need to get away from writing this novel that I haven't even begun planning yet.