NaShoStoWriMo

I'm slowly, quietly, growing my collection of rejection slips for different stories. The latest was less disheartening than the one before, and perhaps the next will be even less so. I'm trying to learn to burn this sensation as fuel; receiving a rejection yesterday, today I chose my next target for the turned-down story, and I've come to the sense that what I really need is more stories. Still, a part of me wishes that my time as an English major had included some equivalent of iron shirt kung fu training, with instructors breaking sticks over my ego until what remained was impervious to pain. We're getting there.

As I said, my experience trying to get these two stories published has brought me to the idea that what I really need is more stories (kin to, but not identical to, the eternal exhortation to write more).

Around the beginning of October I get the feeling that NaNoWriMo was coming at a bad time for me this year. It's coming the same time it does every year, of course, but what I mean is that less that a week from its start I don't have an idea for a novel that I'm excited about, but there are several smaller stories I'd rather write.

After I had complained fruitlessly to Girlfriend about this, she pointed out the solution that was too good for me to come up with myself: to use November to crank out a series of short story drafts in the same spirit and volume as the novel I would have otherwise attempted. I slept on the idea, and now I have seized on it: this November I will put out five 10,000-word short story drafts. At this point I have two ideas I definitely want to pursue. The rest... will be an adventure.

Girlfriend wisely did not name the resulting event "NaShoStoWriMo" and I will honor her forbearance in this matter by making the mistake for myself. This year, NaShoStoWriMo is on.