2003-11-09 - 4:32 p.m.

http://www.nanowrimo.org

it turned chilly last night here in new york, where i snuck up to my roof with an illicit concoction to watch the total eclipse of the moon. there will be a total eclipse of the sun on my birthday in two weeks, but since it will be around 6p on the east coast, i fear we will not get to view it here.

after the organisational demands of the human-scale chess game, i'm gently shelving that project for the time being. there will be at least two more games next year. but for the moment, my organisational prowess will be employed strategising for various holiday parties. i count at least three in november alone!

i'm also taking on a more personal challenge: joining the thousands of first-time novelists attempting to complete a 50,000 word novel before midnight on november 30. National Novel Writing Month is in full force, and i got a late start. i estimate i will need to write 2381 words per day to make up for lost time. i wrote my first thousand words today and it wasn't too hard. the worst part is thinking to myself 'this is terrible. why am i doing this?'. i can say honestly that the first pages are truly awful. but i'm trying to divorce myself from quality, and just write. which is exactly the advice i so arrogantly gave my mom only a couple of weks ago.

my novel is largely autobiographical, so i'd be mortified if anyone i knew in real life actually read it. i may need to actually delete it once i'm done. during november, i will be posting here about my experiences writing a frantic novel.

something that inspired me today, from the new yorker:

..sort of the way bobby riggs was asking for it when he challenged billie jean king to a match. everyone knew that king would beat him, but it was still necessary that she actually go ahead and do it. -- nancy franklin writing about 'kid notorious'

i know i *can* write 50,000 words, but i still have to actually sit down and have the experience of doing it.

suddenly i'm painfully aware of the way these words i'm writing here will not count towards my daily word count.