When I was a child, I begged and pleaded with my parents for a puppy – like most children do.  Eventually my parents gave in, with the condition that the dog was my responsibility.  Like any child, I quickly agreed.  How hard could taking care of a dog be?

Within the first two weeks, the puppy had stumbled upon some lose within reach.  I came in to see him swallow the shiny objects from off the end table.  When I informed my parents, they informed me I would need to make sure the change came back out from my dog.

To say this would be a shitty chore would be both an understatement and a really bad pun.

Over the next few days, I found myself perusing the bowl movements of my dog, trying to find any silver or copper in the pile of feces that he produced.  Eventually all the coins were accounted for, and eventually my puppy ran away.

So how does the story of a boy and his dog tie-in with Novel writing month?  While talking to a number of people that planed to join me in this endeavor, I heard the same phrase used numerous times.

“I can shit out a novel in a month.”

The phrase kept reappearing from various people.  All I could imagine was the doggy turds of my youth.  Would I shit out a novel in Nov?  If so, a month later when I went to edit would I have to search and search through piles of shit for one little piece of silver?

As NaNoWriMo approached I began to have second thoughts.  When I completed the competition a few years back, I had already written the novel completely in my mind.  I knew every aspect of it, all the characters by name, and every sequence that would take place.  Coming into NaNoWriMo the past few years, there was only a general idea.  The same was true this year.

November arrived, and while I still had some hesitation and not nearly enough background for my own good, I decided to give it a start.  Within minutes I had fallen in love with the characters and knew there was no way I would let my novel become crap.  I am as excited to see where the story is going as anyone who may someday accidentally read it.

I’m sure the others that made the comments felt the same way about their novels – it was just a phrase.  To me NaNoWriMo is about scheduling the time to actually work on something – even if it does not get completed.  With all the other responsibilities we all have, sometimes just making the time to concentrate on something you enjoy is all that is needed.

That being said, I plan to write and complete one hellula novel this month.  No shit.

Word count entering Wednesday, Nov. 4 – 1,022.  A long way to go.