Are you already prepping for NaNoWriMo? My thoughts – Please share yours!

I know… it’s August, but there are a couple reasons why I’m already thinking about November.

This month, I’m finishing up my novel The Witch’s Uprising, gearing up for another year of teaching kids, and reading fantasy fiction as part of a 25inFive challenge.

I like keeping busy, but I also like balance.

I have a tendency to overbook myself when I don’t plan ahead. November is a particularly interesting month in terms of being busy:

My birthday is at the end of November, and I thought it would be a nice gift to send The Witch’s Uprising out to as many publishers as I could before my birthday. This feels like a the right step. I’ve already begun my research, and I feel more and more confident each day.
November is a nexus of obligations, celebrations, and explorations. I have to plan anything I’m doing ahead of time. Wedding planning, my teaching job, family, and friends obviously come first. So I need to manage my time and energy well if I want to continue writing during the year.
NaNoWriMo is in November, and I love the intoxicating energy bubbling through the online writing community. Even now, I imagine myself participating, just for enjoyment.

As I research and study several avenues of self-publication, online publication, and author-related social media, I notice that I often daydream about writing new pieces outside of my mainline series. It would be nice to draft a quick 50,000 word novel, if only to have fun writing with other people in the exquisite madness of NaNoWriMo. I’d like to reconnect with the joy of writing a new piece really, really, quickly.