The joys of finance...

Or, why I don't think I can write a novel in a month this year.

For two years I have participated in NanoWrimo. It's a great event. Write a book in a month. 50,000 words. It RAWKS. Seriously. I've gotten the words out, twice in a row. Last year I took two weeks off from work to do it. It was, bar none, one of the greatest vacations EVER. Writing and writing...

Flash forward to this year.

I want to buy a house. A house, for heaven's sake! Wow. It's the perfect location, the opportunity of a lifetime. This house is in the neighborhood I grew up in, right in the middle of a loving community that has always been great to me. I mean, this house practically has my name on it.

It's too soon. I don't make enough money. It's too big. I don't have any money.

Basically, I'm going to go for it, even knowing that it'll kill me. This means (gasp) that I have to get a second job. No evenings to get my writing done. Instead I'm going to work 16-hour days for three months to try to get ahead enough to not worry about losing the house. That's a second job that runs 3 months working 5 hours a night. It'll kill me. But it'll mean some savings in the bank, an emergency fund that should get me through the hardest part of owning a new house.

...right through Nanowrimo.

I don't mind telling you, mixed feelings are an understatement. House: good. No Nano? Bad.

Especially since for my Nanowrimo I planned to do an expansive multi-thread epic about the nature of humanity, the simmering sociopath lurking within each of us, and the nature of great leaders like Napolean and how they are doomed to self-destruction. Also, aliens, vampires, and monsters.

Yeah, it was a little over the top.

In other news; I got a rejection letter! From Tor Fantasy! Yay! (waaaah)

More on rejection later.