NaNoWriMo: Went to the kick-off, got the bunny.

OK so tonight I went to the NaNoWriMo kick-off party at McNally Robinson. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was expecting it to be a lot more… formal? This looks in fact like it will be a lot of FUN. I am impressed with the number and lovely kooky variety of people who showed up (I include myself in the kooky bit). Also, I had no idea that there were Regional Representatives (Janna, pictured above) and that Saskatchewan HAS one – in fact, has two now, as they have split Saskatoon and Regina into their own little NaNoWriMo enclaves.

I got my plot-writing bunny. (I had to ask what it was for – something like, once you start writing, plots start multiplying like bunnies. Correct me if I’m wrong. Is this just a Saskatchewan thing or does everybody do it?) I picked a white one and we had to glue our own googly eyes on it, so I picked red eyes in honor of Bunnicula. Apparently we get to dress our bunnies up for a costume competition at the final party, so now I need to find him a little cape and some fangs and perhaps some parsnips to stand in for the ‘bloodless’ carrots.

I have to confess, however – I’m not technically doing NaNoWriMo. I’m doing some type of mutant offspring of NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo and have christened it… GraNoMaMo. Graphic Novel Make Month. (I couldn’t decide on a word that encompassed both drawing and writing, so I settled on the all-encompassing “make”. I’m open to suggestions if you have better ideas.) I set the bar at 1000 words or one inked page per day (for a total of 30,000 words and/or 30 pages). This may be a low bar but I figure I can always increase it next year. Even though I won’t use all of the words I write, I’ve found that the more you write, the more you force yourself to leave the pre-determined plan and just discover things… and that’s when things get interesting. I’m going to do a collection of “short stories”, a page each in length, based somewhat loosely on ruminations of autobiographical situations. Or not. Like many novel writers, I’m not entirely sure where this thing is going, but I’m gonna find out by the end of the month I guess. Or die trying…. DUM DUM DUM DUUUUUUMMMMM….

PS – In honor of GraNoMaMo, I’ve purchased Lynda Barry’s latest book, Picture This. Google her name and CBC’s Writers & Company to listen to her interview with Eleanor Wachtel (the link seems to keep moving), or see my doodle from her other book, What It Is, here.

PPS – Lo, it only took one small Google search – this has of course been done before and apparently I am a month late. Regardless, we shall press on… I think I like my name better.

Tagged as: McNally Robinson, NaNoWriMo