I’d spent the weekend working on my characters: their physical traits, goals, motivations and conflicts.  I’d planned a loose outline, with all stages of internal and external development and crucial turning points.  I’d done the practical things, like creating a new folder and putting a shortcut on my desktop.


I was ready to go.


And last night, before I fell asleep, the first line popped into my mind.  I reached over for the pad and pencil I keep on my nightstand, jotted down the brilliant words and drifted off to sleep.  No fretting.  No worrying.  Not like those sorry suckers on my writing loops and Twitter.  I was confident I could meet my daily goal.  My story was in me, ready to come pouring out.


I woke up this morning at five a.m.  Put on my robe, grabbed my cup of coffee and sat in front of my laptop.  I opened  my new folder and my Chapter 1 file.  There were no worries as I looked at the blank screen in front of me.  I knew my first line.  Triumphantly, I typed it in.  I sat back and smiled.


I got this.


I reread the line.  I don’t know.  Something was off.  I read it aloud.  


Aaahhhhh.  


It didn’t sound right.  Not to worry.  Just tweak it a little.  


There.  But…  Does it “pop” enough?  Will it grab the reader’s attention?  Maybe I could say it stronger?


I happened to glance at the time.  Holy crap!  I just spent TEN minutes on my first sentence! 


And there it was.  My first NaNo lesson.  I don’t have time to worry about every little word.  This is supposed to be a first draft, not a polished manuscript.  I’d spent the past couple of months editing, where all I did was work on active vs passive voice, punctuation, sprinkling backstory, etc.  But now, all I had to do was–




Write.


And I did.  I managed to almost meet my daily goal by the time I heard the kids stirring upstairs.  It wasn’t perfect.  But I did what I needed to do.  I introduced my heroine, gave a hint of her motivation and prepared her to meet the love of her life.


Not a bad start for NaNo.