Every year I get a little more excited about the end of October.
First of all, of course, it’s the ramping up to Halloween, which will always be one of my favorite holidays. Unfortunately, this year I’m sort of skipping the holiday, because I’ve gone to Bangkok to get ready for the Reaching the World writers’ and translators’ festival next week. But the good there outweighs the bad, of course.

But mostly, the last 9 years or so, I’ve been just consumed by excitement to begin NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a yearly challenge for writers, where participants attempt to create a 50,000-word-long work of fiction in only 30 days.  For someone who is a deadline-oriented writer, this is a giant, much-needed push to turn ideas into pages. I encourage anyone who has ever said, “I’ll write a book…someday” to look into participating in this event. Even if you don’t make the 50,000-word goal, it’s fantastic exercise for your creative brain (and for your typing fingers!).

So, happy Halloween, everyone. And happy writing.

Since the last time I've posted here, I've relocated from southern China to central Philippines. Here is my first Philippine-related post on Novel Adventurers, about national hero Lapu-Lapu.  Enjoy! http://www.noveladventurers.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-strike-against-spanish.html