Sean R. Robinson

For most folks, the day after Halloween is about nursing sugar hang-overs, taking down the pumpkins and bracing for Thanksgiving in three weeks. For a crew of writers, it is Day 1 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in which folks write a 50k word novel in a month.

For me, it’s the beginning of the down season. Because, dear reader, I do not write in the month of November. Sure, there will be Tweets, and perhaps some blog posts here (that would be a change). But no major work, unless I have to. Why, you might ask? Because my participation in NaNoWriMo is cursed.

Many moons ago, I thought about doing it. I love challenges and creativity and time constraints. I wrote Conner Chant in 5k word bursts, the second half of the book in ten days. Crazy times. But whenever I think about NaNoWriMo…my computer crashes.

Four times. This has happened four times.

Explainable issues with the mother board. A broken screen. A power cord that exploded when it was in the wall. So, for the last several years, I complete my last addition to my serial story, Peter Price the Pumpkin Prince on Halloween. I back up all my writing. And then, I settle in for the month of November.

So, a little bit of superstition to go along with your holiday 🙂