Oh, well.

For the first time in the three NaNoWriMos and two Script Frenzys I've done, I am virtually certain that I won't be able to get the required amount of wordage to win by the end of the month.

The good news is, I'm flinging loose ends and red herrings around like a mad thing, and in my experience nothing is better for keeping writing going than a room full of flailing loose ends and rotting red herrings. And it's all mulch, compost, call it what you will, for when I go back and start trying to make sense of this year's book.

The other good news is, it's a lot of words — over 23,000 at this writing. That not only gives me a good base for the book, it is toning up my writing muscles like you wouldn't believe. And, as this year has been a challenge in so many ways, I haven't gotten the wordcount I wanted. It's more than time to build up my somewhat atrophied writing muscles.

Moreover, it's good to be playing a game I love with a lot of cool people — some I know in person, some I don't. There's a group in the forums I will never, ever meet in person, but when I need cheering up or cheering on, they're invariably there. And they always save my favorite chair for me in the virtual coffeehouse. The real-life people, too (hello, my metameta friends!), are cheering me on. And I'm cheering all my writing buddies on in turn — RL or virtual, doesn't matter, they're all cool and I want them all to succeed.

So, while I'd like to win this year, and I may not win this year, I'm still glad I'm doing NaNo.

Do you think I can manage a couple of five- or six-thousand word days in the next week or so?