Two days until November. That means two days until I join a handful of other Madisonians as we throw our mental stability into a blender for 30 days. November is *shiver* National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This will be my fourth year taking part in the adventure. After clocking more than 50,000 words in 2003 - essentially "winning" - I failed to achieve that goal in 2004 and 2005 - roughly 15,000 words short each time. Why would anyone do such a thing when they dread it so much? Essentially it is a flaw in my programming. But this time I have a plan - you're coming along with me. Each week I will share up dates on my progress and sanity - as well as the progress of others. That way if I start slacking all of Madison will know it.

This year looks to be especially interesting with Eric, who has been participating since 2002, taking over as municipal liaison for Madison. He has already picked up a gauntlet thrown down by the "Wisconsin: Elsewhere" group seeking a word count challenge. The Elsewherers wish to show that they have better writing stamina then the two big cities of Madison and Milwaukee. As of this writing there is no word as to if Milwaukee has accepted the challenge. Not surprising - Madison would slaughter them *grins*.

Can you write 50,000 words in 30 days? There is a kick-off meeting tonight at Escape Coffeehouse on Willy Street from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. It is an essentially a session to meet other NaNoers and get some advice on how to achieve your goals. The first official write-in (because you can't start until midnight on October 31) is November 1 at Avol's Bookstore near the intersection of Gorham and State. From 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. If you plan on attending, drop into the MadNaNo forums.