NYPL.

I started using the library again about a month ago to tourniquet my budget. Let me tell you, the holds system at NYPL is quite competitive. I put Mindy Kaling’s book on hold two weeks before it was even released and I am still #179 on the list. My hold positions on my other picks The Art of Fielding, Blue Nights, IQ84, and The Marriage Plot are #209, 7, 350 and 604. Unfortunately the holds list refreshes all day long and I have become obsessed with checking my standings. Now I know how people who follow sports feel with constantly refreshing their scores/leaderboards on espn.com.

National Novel Writing Month.

A few months ago I started working on a young adult novel. I had the plot mapped out in my head start to finish, a detailed chapter by chapter outline, and had done the necessary research. Even with the skeleton of the story sorted out, I couldn’t bring myself to sit down and start writing. I’m rusty, I haven’t worked on any creative writing projects in years and I was scared to write badly. So instead of just diving in and starting a draft to edit and improve later, as all writers recommend, I didn’t write at all and spent every single day feeling guilty about it. Until Sunday night! I cranked out 500 words, and while they might be terrible I now have a starting point on the novel and knocked the first layer of dust off my writing skills.

I decided to join NaNoWriMo this year to maintain forward momentum and word count accountability. I might not have a first draft of the manuscript by the end of the month but I will be closer to my goal of completing a draft by the end of the year. My username is Paperbackgirl, is anyone else participating?