Oh there it is!

I had a Really Good Idea for NaNoWriMo this year. I had a plot and everything. And the more I looked at it the more I realized it was nothing more than a short story. There was no way I could turn it into 50,000 words. At max it would be 10,000. So it was back to the drawing board. And nothing was coming. Do you know the sound that nothing makes in your brain? It's sort of like playing Pong with the computer as your competition. It's full of dark empty space with the echoing plink as the pong hit the paddle. Yeah. That bad.

Usually when I get into one of these states I will head to the bookstore and just browse the back of rows of books to read their covers. It gets my mind whirling and I end up with a plot about a computer nerd, a nun and a prostitute who are trying to save the world from aliens. (Do not steal that idea. I'm planning on using it one day!) I've had this horrible desire to want to create, but lacking the, well, gumption to actually jump off the creative diving board and do it. I've been that way with my knitting as well. I want to make gorgeous Jane Thornley inspired sweaters and shawls, but I keep standing on the edge refusing to even get my toes wet. It isn't that I don't have the talent or skills or education to do those things. It's that fear of failing or not being good enough. The bookstore did nothing to help inspire me. If anything it made me feel pathetic and clueless.

That's when the wonderful words that keep coming back to me started taking over the plinking of the everlasting Pong game.

"Write what you know," my brain finally heard.
"But what do I know anything about?" I asked.
"Knitting," said the mysterious voice.
"Uh, have you forgotten that this is National Novel Writer's Month?"
"So incorporate it."
"Leave me alone. I'm enjoying my game. Plink. Plink. Plink."
"Have it your way," said the voice.
"Bzzzz. Darn it! You made me miss."

But now it is there. I've got the idea. And yes; it incorporates knitting. Well, knitting is a character really. I've got a plot with a beginning, middle and and end and it can easily become 50,000 words. I passed it by my biggest critic and she said, "Aw, Mom, that sounds like a wonderful romantic comedy that I would pay money to see as a movie." (That, by the way, is a major compliment.) So beginning Monday morning my word count will appear here. You can also follow my progress on Twitter (user name is knitcookwrite there, too).

Now to go find all that yarn for my creative shawl.