Maybe I will do it this year!

I almost signed up for the 3-day novel contest last year. It costs $50, which is a lot to me, so I didn't enter last year.

This year, though, I really think I'll do it. It'll be an opportunity to do something completely, utterly, 100% different from all the other writing I've done this year and still plan to do. NaNoWriMo helped me develop the world of Charmed Circle (and Evil Outfitters, Ltd. and Jack of All Trades), but I want something radically different for this new project.

I walked downtown to check the mail and get a coke (the coke machine promised me a ginger ale but delivered a Sundrop, so I'm saving it for tomorrow because the last thing I need right now is caffeine), and thought about ways to budget so I could afford the contest this month. Budgeting item #1: I do not actually need a new pair of tennis shoes. After all, I don't play tennis. I also tried to come up with ideas for the book, the main character, the world, the plot. I think I'll decide on a title first, and let the rest flow from there. At least then I'll have a good title. Example of a good title: the 3-day novel contest previous winner that I think I'm going to order, Day Shift Werewolf (by Jan Underwood).

Right now I can't get into a project--my interest in continuing White Rose flickered, and I've just been pecking here and there at other projects. I think I just need to recover after the hugely productive last few months. I hereby give myself permission not to write any damn thing at all (except an outline) until the 3-day novel contest starts.