Here comes NaNoWriMo!

November is just a few days away. This means different things to different people.  For some, it means time to put away the Halloween decorations and load up on half-price candy.  For some, it means not shaving (I'm a big fan of No Shave November).  For others, it means cranking the Christmas tunes.

For me, it means lots and lots of writing.

For the fourth year in a row, I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.

In 2011, I started a project that would eventually be published under the title Riffs of Regret.  This is still a story I love a lot.  Mostly, I love the characters and the way I was able to infuse my passion for music into the tale.

Riffs of Regrets is on the far right. The other two are earlier books I self-published.

In 2012, I opened a baseball romance I had abandoned after just 30 pages and eventually finished a book currently called Dropped Third Strike. This one is still in editing stages and might be for a while because I can't find time to work on it.

In 2013, I began penning a sequel to Riffs of Regret. It's at least three chapters away from being finished and it doesn't have a title, but it exists.  That's all I can really say about it.

Each year, I've been excited about my project and was practically chomping at the bit to start writing the minute midnight hit.

This year, for the first time, I have a lot of anxiety.

Why? Well, I've decided to try a new genre.  I will be attempting to write something that's either a mystery or a quest/adventure story.  I have a concept, but I can't decide which category it fits into yet.  And that makes me really nervous.

Contemporary romances are my comfort zone, but I think it's time to leave that zone.  It's only 30 days. And maybe I'll learn something about writing -- or myself as a writer -- in the process.

Have you ever tried to write a book?
What genres appeal the most to you as a reader?