In 2015, I tried to use NaNoWrimo as a platform for arranging an anthology of my published stories and poetry, while adding a few new works. That seed did not take root that year, though I am steadily working on that project to publish independently, it's just going to take a while to edit older stuff and polish up the new stuff. 

In 2017, I joined the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month that takes place every November) in the hopes of beginning a novel that I had been planning and outlining for about six months or so. "I have a plan this time! I have an outline! I CAN DO THIS!!!!!"

Not.

Life, as it sometimes does, got in the way. I managed a little over 5500 words before caving to the pressures of being ill and not having enough time to write between working three goddamn jobs (welcome to American capitalism). I had to pay bills, ergo, writing my novel had to wait.

Now, in 2019, I'm ready to get back to this book. I have a full-time job, my health is a little better, and I have a girlfriend now to help me survive.

I've almost got everything set up on the new NaNo site. Not fond of the new layout but it is what it is. I've got my words entered from 2017 plus another hundred or so that I wrote this morning before work.,

To refresh: The Strange Blue Days of Dr. Fountainbrew takes place in an unnamed city (so far) in the weirdest neighborhood in the world. The protagonist, Dr. Fountanbrew, lives in his own comfy normal world, has never been in loved or loved by anyone, but he is well-liked. His comfy world gets thrown into turmoil when he meets two strange women one afternoon. He gets caught up in a fantastical world of human mutants and demi-humans and gods. And falls in love with a witch's broomstick. That's only the first couple of days.

Here's a brief summary of the good Doctor's"strange blue days" and the people he meets:

• A Goddess who rules the realm of illusion and reality. If she offers a blue marble, it's in your best interest to accept it.
• A witch's familiar, a man who turns into a broomstick by night (or perhaps he a broomstick who turns into a man by day). The last thing he was expecting was to fall in love.
• An ostrich man who sells newspapers on the strangest street corner in the world
• A six-armed girl who delivers newspapers, writes multiple novels simultaneously, and is a superhero in her spare time.
• A scientist who runs a laboratory/orphanage for folks who are a little different He suffers from autassassinophilia and has erotic fantasies about being murdered by the secret agent who has been targeting him and test subjects.
• A woman who transforms into a blue jay and flies.
• A fox-woman who runs a tavern on the strangest street in the world.
• A man who is bodily experiencing human de-evolution, and has the monkey tail to prove it.
• A government agent with strange secrets of his own, and orders to take down all of above.

These mysterious people become part of Dr. Fountainbrew's world and within a few days turn it completely upside down. He is faced with a choice to join them, but is not informed of the consequences if he refused.

I am not making any big goal-setting statements like I plan to write 50,000 words in November or finish this novel this month. I just want to continue to write this book whose characters I fell in love with in 2017. I want to continue to journey with them and learn things from them. What happens and where I am (and where they are) after November remains to be seen.

So that is that. Join me in the madness if you want. On NaNoWriMo's website, I am waning_gibbous.