Not A Pretty Process, But Hopefully A Pretty Product.

My horoscope for this week, courtesy of Free Will Astrology:


Have you ever seen the edible fungi known as truffles? They are bulbous, warty clumps. Because they grow underground near trees, specially trained pigs and dogs are needed to sniff out their location. In parts of Europe their taste is so highly prized that they can sell for up to $6,000 per pound. In my opinion, the truffle should be your metaphor of the month this November. I expect that you will be in the hunt for an ugly but delectable treasure, or a homely but valuable resource, or some kind of lovable monster. Halloween costume suggestion: a Frankensteinian beauty queen or underwear model, a rhino in a prom dress, a birthday cake made of lunchmeat.


So, November will be spent in search of something both desirable and undesirable. All I can think about, in response to this, is NaNoWriMo.

What I love about NaNo is that it's basically a challenge to anyone who keeps saying that they want to write a book...someday. It's a combination of a calling out and an opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. Writing a book, from what I've seen and heard, is ugly and hard and frustrating and painful...but if you're really meant for it, it's unavoidable, it's an addiction, it's a release.

One of my favorite quotes about writing (apparently said by Walter Wellesly "Red" Smith, whoever he may be) puts it better I can:

"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

And that's what I'm looking forward to in just one week. Opening a vein, letting loose the flood that's been building up over the past month of heavy-duty story planning. This week will be lots of psyching up, stoking my excitement until I'm up at 3 AM Sunday night, typing away like a madwoman.

*grin*