Everyone is getting ready for NaNoWriMo! @mzhartz asked her readers for support, @mystressmanda posted her thoughts about NaNoWriMo and her plot for this year, and @aliciagregoire posted some pre-writing ideas on her blog. (Can you tell I’m spending a lot of time checking out the #nanowrimo hashtag on Twitter?)

I’m really enjoying reading tweets and blog posts about people getting ready. It’s getting me more pumped and I can tell that having other NaNo-ers via blogs and Twitter is going to keep me motivated throughout November.

I spent this afternoon doing some more pre-writing. I flipped through my pre-writing notebook and wrote each scene I’d envisioned throughout the last couple of months (and the scenes I’d first imagined when I first got the idea for my novel over a year ago) on an index card. At the top right of each card, I wrote either Past or Present, depending on what part of my novel’s timeline the scene falls into.

Then, I organized the cards by the order in which I want to write each scene. I now have the first half of my novel outlined in detail.

Since I’m not sure about the rest of it, I made a KWL chart. As silly as it sounds, it really helped! Under K (What I Know), I listed the problems I know my main character and some of the other characters have to solve. Under the W (What I Want to Know), I wrote down questions I have for the novel. (Who does my main character end up with? How does she decide that she is going to let go of her son?) Under L (What I’ve Learned), so far I’ve got nothing. Hopefully I can fill out this section after I’ve finished writing the novel.

Funny how, while using KWL charts in school, I thought I’d never use them outside of the classroom. I think having those questions under W will keep me motivated to finish the novel. I really want to know how it ends! (I thought I had an ending a few weeks ago, but after doing more pre-writing and a little roleplaying in my head, I really have no idea.)

I still want to do a little more pre-writing; I would really like to write profiles for a couple more characters. I do think I’ve got a pretty good handle on everyone, through the roleplaying exercises I did while driving back and forth to school. (Hey, I’ve gotta entertain myself for those thirty-plus minutes somehow!) I did some actual writing of an event in the point of view of my antagonist, so I have a pretty good handle on him. (I also thought of some great ways for him to annoy my main character while doing my index cards this afternoon!)

On a totally different note, if you haven’t carved a pumpkin yet, consider doing one for charity! Zombie Pumpkins has hundreds of stencils you can purchase and download. The proceeds go to a charity that packs bags of things abused children really need. Mike found it over at Proton Charging and showed it to me earlier this evening. It’s for a good cause, and they have some wicked cool stencils available (I really want the Eric Draven one)!