Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.

I heard this Winston Churchill quote while watching The Complete Churchill this morning. If the documentary is to be believed, he said this shortly after winning the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Today is Day 6 of NaNoWriMo. Your average novelist's word count is hovering around 8,333 (still in the toy/amusement phase). Your above-average novelist's word count is somewhere around 50,003 (the monster has already been slain). To preserve the writing world's equilibrium, I have kept my word count to a minimum. To be exact, it's zero. Little can be done to make it any more minimal.

It has taken every ounce of restraint and patience I possess to postpone the adventure these past five days, but after hearing Winston's words, I'm close to breaking. Even my daily dose of procrastinezene (a rare over-the-counter motivation relaxant) is proving ineffective against such inspirational sentiments.

Since it would be imprudent to try to catch up in one valiant effort (10,000 words in a day is possible, but dangerously so), I plan to get back on track in a more measured manner. The goal is to be at 20,000 words by Day 12, seven days from now. That works out to 2,857 words or two hours of focused creativity each day. If I'm successful, I'll be back to average in a week. By then, my novel should be in full mistress phase and well on its way to becoming my master. That's something to look forward to, right?

If you've already started your novel, then good job and don't stop! If you haven't started, it isn't too late to jump on the bandwagon and participate. It's something we can all suffer through together!