So I take November off from all of my other hobbies. The main downside to that is that it is also one of the biggest holiday gift buying seasons. I have plans next year to get all of my holiday work done by October. I am a huge believer in trying to preemptively strike a problem you can see coming.
But back to the main portion of this post, I am going to say a word that gets many responses:
NaNoWriMo.
National
Novel
Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30.
When I tell friends about this I get one of three responses. 1.) You're doing what? 2.) People do this? or 3.) Have fun with that. Then a look like I have managed to sprout a second head.
So I sat down with an extra large cup of coffee, my laptop and
Pandora Stations geared to certain emotional states. By the end of day 11, I wrote 46,499 words. I won with 125,869 words. This is my second year winning. They don't tell you about the moments you want to bang your head against the desk, because the words aren't right or the character doesn't want to participate in the scene. They don't tell you about how your fingers get stiff. They also don't tell you how the clock will mock you at four in the morning. But it is all worth it.
It is the ability to say, I did this. I made something. It may not be high lit, but this is mine.
So I watched Stranger then Fiction this weekend. It is probably one of my favorite movies. It is also one of the few movies where Will Ferrel plays a non-goofy character. It is all about the concept of the relationship between the writer and the character. You can watch the movie from his point of view. His life is overtaken by the voice of the writer, who seems to be in control of his life. A writer about to kill him with the stroke of a key... a final punctuation. From her point of view her character, who often refuses to participate, has sprung to life begging for his life. This man who was just an impression, a personality is now flesh and blood. All of which is punctuated by a third character Harold's wrist watch. This watch seems to be aware of the story as it unfolds. It tries to warn Harold of the events moments before they happen. 
So I just created a Light Box. I took a Staples box, that was once the holder of several reams of paper, preformed surgery and came out on the better side. I have yet to use it to take images of my wonderful pieces. But, I know that they work.