I’d swear last year I kept a better running monologue of this, but looking back through the blog I seem to be mistaken. You see, today is November 1, which is both the first day of NANOWRIMO (the National Novel Writing Month), as well as historically the first day of beard growth.
And yes, the two are related.
You see, a few years ago (2009) I took it upon myself as a personal challenge not to shave until I finished that novel. And I did – but then I didn’t shave because A) I’d grown rather fond of the undergrowth on my face and B) although I had hit 50k, I wasn’t actually done with the damned thing, so I kept plodding ahead not shaving. The novel, by the way, is still unfinished, and the beard has come and gone, but the concept of November 1 marking the first day of the beard continues.
That tradition is going to be kept alive and well. But the question that still swirls around me is whether I’m going to be participating in NANOWRIMO this year (I know, I realize that it began today, so the clock is ticking).
Katy wants to do the kids version, and I believe in being a good role model. In fact, as I write this her mom tells me she’s already hit her word count for the day. I think this inspires both pride and jealousy, but mostly pride. Mostly. But maybe I should give the old NANOWRIMO a stab and see what bleeds out?
[UPDATE] And for those wondering at the blog title – when I started this entry, the fact that today is All Saint’s day was on my mind (something I remember observing when we lived in Germany in particular, but maybe that’s because of the cemetery that wasn’t that far away). The fact that I never actually got around to touching on that in this post, well, that’s just what you get when you start a blog post before you leave work and finish it during a late afternoon break.
