NaNo has begun!

My NaNo month got off to a good start today. Work was relatively slow, so I kept my laptop nearby and pounded out my first chapter in several hours. Two new characters came to life, that I hadn't planned (but figured I would need to create as background characters), and one ended up having this whole important role in heralding the major conflict of the story which I hadn't had any idea of before. How dare he take on a life of his own like that! It really makes me think these are actually real people who live in my head and are screaming to get out.

I also met with my girls, as I think of them, for a NaNo write-in. It's so much fun to spend time with other writers, especially young ones, with their fresh, amazing ideas, enthusiasm, and because they are my audience so I get to pick their brains for feedback. I hope they all got some helpful input as well.

Sometimes it's hard to keep a balance as I try to help all of my students. I want to give them equal time, but I don't always know if that's happened. I hope they all know that I care about each of them and want to teach them all how to be better writers and improve their work. This is a shameless message aimed at them since I am probably going to give them this blog address to read during NaNo. *grin* Love you guys! Er, girls.

I think we may have difficulty, though, in making our write-ins actual write-ins, haha. Being girls, we tended to talk and get off on tangents. But those are fun too, and help provide inspiration as well, I think. I'm looking forward to doing it again next Saturday, but we won't have to wait that long since Tuesday's class will be a write-in as well.

I'm so impressed with my girls' ideas. They're going to be better writers than I am. And no, that's not said just for their benefit, even if they are going to read this. I really mean it.