National Novel Writing Month started today, and I’ve sort of half-assedly joined it.

I did this once before, four years ago, and achieved 42,000 words, two all-out panic attacks, and one long depressive slump, followed by four years of novel-writing PTSD where I couldn’t even open the word document to look at what I’d vomited out in 2011. Two thumbs up!

My negativity aside, it’s a great challenge in that it inspires two things: a sense of community in the often very solitary act of writing, and a goal to motivate you to work big chunks of writing time into your day to day life.

We’ll see how it goes this year. I think if I can just manage to sit down to write every day I’ll call it a win. So far here’s my progress:

• Changed my Facebook profile and cover photos
• Google searched a song and listened to 20 seconds of it, for no reason
• Opened cabinets in search of something to eat, even though I wasn’t hungry
• Downloaded the MS Word app so I could track my non-existent word count
• Tried out this quick and easy brainstorming exercise and wrote the words “Pineapple Experiment Torture” and “Star Republican Necromancer”  – so, yeah, clearly I’m destined for literary stardom
• Got excited upon rediscovering a purple gel pen in my pen cup
• Whined. A lot
• Made myself another cup of coffee
• Wandered around the apartment aimlessly
• Took a picture of my desk – it appears below
• Changed the batteries in my bluetooth keyboard
• Used the force to get Adam to make me popcorn
• Boredom-ate popcorn
• Felt like puking because too much popcorn
• E-mailed friends about a concert I’m attending later
• Stared
• Squeezed out 609 words of a YA novel I’ve been brewing
• Wrote this blog post, which I will unabashedly add to my word count