Fraize Dotcom

They say that the definition of insanity is yadda yadda blah blah you’ve heard it all before, but the final quarter of this year has been the most stressful time for me ever since I started working at ThinkGeek.

We are a retail store after all, and the Christmas shopping season requires an insane level of effort. We’re still trying to find more and more cool product, write copy for it, edit videos, all while maintaining inventory for all the products we already buy. Sales explode during this time, so extra attention is required to make sure we don’t run out of hot product.

This all translates into ten to fourteen hour days, barely leaving enough time to do my own holiday shopping. It’s no accident that many ThinkGeek employees give ThinkGeek product as Christmas gifts – it’s the easiest way to save time.

So why, when I’m already tearing my hair out with business, would I dare try and do NaNoWriMo again?

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is a shortening of “National Novel Writing Month,” where crazy people try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Not impossible, but very very difficult. Last year, I was so buried in work that it was a fantastic relief to quit my NaNoWriMo attempt after 13,000 words. The year before, I successfully wrote over my 50k, but the resulting “novel” was so awful, I wouldn’t dare share it with anyone. This year, I have a killer idea and can’t wait to start writing.

I think that’s why people keep trying. My friend and coworker, Jamie, told me that when he envisions a character, they demand to be written. Once my idea formed in my head, the protagonist snapped nearly fully formed in my head, and I could see him tapping the glass between my imagination and my consciousness – “hey, buddy. Why aren’t you writing? It’s kinda bleak in here and I could use some toys to play with.”

So, yes – here’s my formal announcement. NaNoWriMo ‘09 will be attempted again this year. God help me.