I'm sitting here eating mac and cheese - as a college student without a job, that's pretty normal. I'm a fairly normal college student - I had ramen for lunch! I also do my best to avoid homework until the last minute and sleep as late as I can. However, every November I do something a bit out of the ordinary.

I write a novel.

Every year since 2003, I've written a novel of 50,000 words or more in the month of November for an event called National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo. One novel. Thirty days. Less sleeping and more homework procrastination and definitely a lot more ramen.

Before I heard about NaNoWriMo, I was unable to ever finish writing anything. I'd write at most three whole chapters, and then stop, because I was afraid of failure. NaNoWriMo and the founder, Chris Baty, have changed all of that and I've now written five novels because of him. He and all the other people at the Office of Letters and Light (the non-profit organization that runs NaNoWriMo) are my heroes and for the longest time I have wanted to meet them. However, being a poor college student far away from California made that pretty much impossible.

This year my dream will become a reality. I am attending NaNoWriMo's Night of Writing Dangerously, which takes place on November 15th. I'll be joining over 100 other writers in San Fransisco and I plan on writing until either my brain implodes or my wrists rebel against me from typing too much. And they'll have food there that isn't ramen or mac and cheese! You want me to eat well, right?

Every single penny I raise will go directly to the Office of Letters and Light, whose free programs such as National Novel Writing Month inspire tens of thousands of kids, teens, and adults to write books every year. They've changed my life and thousands of others, but can't do it without a little help. That's where you come in! If you have something even as small as a few dollars, I would greatly appreciate your contribution in helping me reach my dream. If you don't have a bit of money to spare, but know someone who does, I would greatly appreciate if you forward this page along to him or her.

Thank you very much! And I promise to document each and every step of the journey so you can see exactly what you helped happen. Each and every after-midnight writing session, every time I say "I don't know what's going on in my novel," and every time I almost cry because of happiness. It will all be there and partly thanks to you.

-- 20 September, 2008 --

Wow! Thank you guys so much! You are all really, really awesome. NaNoWriMo has played a huge part in my life and I am so thankful that you are so awesome. You're helping to keep NaNoWriMo alive and I just feel really humbled by your generous donations. Thank you, this seriously means a lot to me.

In other news, I've started to plan out my novel for this year! It will involve a vampire with probably a one-sided romance. Set in a fantasy world. With flashbacks. It'll be stellar.

-- 20 October 2008 --

Thanks again! You guys are made of win! I'm getting really, really excited for the Night of Writing Dangerously and NaNoWriMo in general! Although I don't really know what my novel's about and my character motivations are very vague. It happens every year, it's all good.