I won’t get into details, but today has sucked. But, in a weird moment while I was waiting at a red light, I took a moment to look at rain spattering on my windshield. It’s been colder as Autumn is slowly giving way to Winter. My windshield was cold, not quite frosty, but enough to affect the fluid dynamics of the glass in front of me. I watched as a rain drop his the perimeter of one of those weird zones of demarcation that are byproducts of the weather. The drop headed down as it inexorably gave in to gravity. It did so in a slow and long arc. I watched as it made its way down and then the light changed.

As I sped up, I watched the dynamic again. The speed increased and the water reversed course. It suddenly had no other trajectory but up and fast. No gentle declines, no passive force.

Motion, moving forward. That changes everything.

If we’re not moving, we’re letting things drag us down. Water will always find the lowest point – but only if you stop acting on it. With enough forward momentum, you can make water defy its nature.

With enough speed and dedication to moving forward, you can reverse the course of anything.

If you stay parked, you’ll just keep falling.

Good reminder, that.

So, I’m plugging away at my day job when a friend of mine sends me a private message.

‘How many words?’ it reads.

I have no idea what he’s talking about.

So I write back the most creative response that I can think of: ‘What?’

And he says ‘NaNo!’

It’s no secret – the second manuscript I ever completed was a NaNoWriMo project. It was an amazing experience. I went for it again the next year and got really close to target but nowhere close to the end of the story. The year after that it proved to be too much. It’s difficult to juggle a life filled with work, a girlfriend, family, and a thousand plus words a day.

So, this year, I decided I wasn’t even gonna stand on pretense.

I’m not doin’ it.

I already have a challenge of my own and it’s a hundred and ten thousand words approximately. It’s been going on for a year and… NaNo taught me stuff. But I think I grew out of it. I had to find a new way to challenge myself that could be managed. And I’m eight stories away from hitting the goal.

When I get to the end, I’ll be sure to keep you posted on what the new challenges taught me. It’s a lot.

And I’m loving it.