Addiction

Addiction under average circumstances is seen as a negative. Usually it suggests an obbsession with some kind of what or who that ultimately harms the afflicted in the end. That harm can be anything from a minor broken heart to a painful death. But this October/Plotober I find myself with a positive addiction or two that are worthy of mention.

#1 Long walks in the fall air…

During the summer, I tend to sit and stew rather than try and move through the heat and humidity. As such I am usually confined to a chair or my bed for hours on end. But when fall comes and the weight in the air goes, I leap outside with gusto and enthusiasm.

Being tucked in my safe and happy corner of Maine, there are plenty of woodland areas to explore with my notebook and walking stick. I find, since this lovely weather comes hand in hand with ‘Plotober’ that my long walks actually aid the flow of blood to my brain. Therefore making it more fully functional, and therefore making the plotting process that much easier.

#2 Notebooks…

I think that they got it right when they decided to start school in the fall. For those of you with kids, it means you get 6 hours of quiet. All the better to work on your writing! For those without (me) it means two things.

Firstly, the annoying brats at the end of my street are gone for the day. Which means their ATV’s and bikes are out of my way. But secondly and most importantly is the aftermath of the back to school sales.

This is the best time of year for writers, because all our writing supplies finally become dirt cheep. A 4 dollar notebook will be 58 cents, 12 pack of pens is little less than a dollar. Any writer who doesn’t use this time to stock up must have a better financial outlook than me.

#3 NaNoWriMo…

You didn’t think I would forget the writing to do of the year did you? Because this is the most important addiction of them all. And this is the best time of year for that addiction. There is a certain magic this time of year, when the writers of the world flood NaNoWriMo’s site.

The forums buzz, all the blogs flutter, and Twitter tweets and twitters. Authors gayly gather around with one common interest and goal. Each of them working together towards a better world for novelists of all colors and creeds.

It is the one time of the year when a novice like me can dream of writing a 50,000 word novel. As illogical as it may be, somehow it seems a lot less crazy at this end of the spectrum. And this feeling, is the best possible addiction of them all.