November is National Novel Writing Month—affectionately called NaNoWriMo—during which literally thousands of people commit to writing, or trying to write, 50,000 words in November’s 30 days. I’ve participated in most of the NaNoWriMos between 2006 and now, but I’ve never actually won. That is, I’ve never actually written those 50k words in a single month.

I feel like this year is different. I’m not in school anymore, but I am working a full-time job. I still haven’t figured out how to write around those hours.

This year’s NaNoWriMo feels like an opportunity: to write, and to find out how to write in this new phase of my life. While I don’t have any sort of confidence that I could win, part of the accomplishment for me would be to write at all, to stumble on a rhythm, to find my stride again. I’m looking forward to it…

…even though I don’t yet know what I’m going to write.