A November Goal - Nothing Comes from Nothing

If you're a blogger, then you are probably somewhat familiar with NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.  For the last several Novembers, people around the country (and the world) have made the commitment to themselves to put 50,000 words (an average number of words for a novel) of prose onto the page (or, more likely, into Microsoft Word).

I admire the people who sign up for NaNoWriMo -- both those who finish and those who strive valiantly in attempts to finish.  However, while it is on my bucket list to write a novel, it is actually playwrighting that more captures my fancy of late.  So, in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, I'm committing to writing a play during the month of November.  I am not signing up with the site, however, as the word limit is pushing it for a play (Hamlet "only" has 32,241 words).

What this means is that I will be looking to you, my reading public, for accountability in the coming weeks.  If you think of it, please feel free to drop me a comment or send me an email to ask how I'm doing.  I'd very much appreciate it.

Long time readers may remember that I have a goal of finishing and submitting a play to a contest by December 1st.  However, the contest in question requires the work be about very specific subject matter, and that subject matter has been something of a stumbling block for me over the last few months.*  So, I may write for the contest or I might not.  I'm using this month as a kick in the butt to get writing again, and I don't need to give myself any excuses.

After all, nothing comes from nothing.  If I write nothing, then nothing of mine will get performed, right?  At least if I write something, there's a chance, and that is encouragement enough for me.

*The contest wants plays that aren't necessarily historical, but the plays need to have something to do with science.  However, these plays should not be science fiction (which, to me, begs the question: if the play isn't rooted in history, isn't it in some way science fictional?  This is part of the stumbling block in my mind about the contest).