The Ekscursionist's Return!

Hello there, ladybugs, gentlebugs, and everyone who is not a bug! 好久不见, long time no see, etc etc, though I figure “see” in this case might also read “blog”. (好久不博客?) I apologize for the long radio silence – it’s not that I’ve forgotten this blog, it’s more that I’ve been so unholyly busy that the very thought of sitting down and writing a Beautiful Blogwriting Blogpost has been its own greatest discourager. “Oh god, I have to do that on top of everything?” And then I would go and seek out a distraction.

 BUT NO LONGER. I am bound and determined, now, to return to this poor lonely blog. The perfect opportunity has in fact come along: NaNoWriMo!

 Let me explain (No, is too long. Let me sum up.):

  NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel-Writing Month) is an annual event where hundreds of thousands (yes really) of people try to complete one goal: write 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days. This averages out to 1,667 words a day, and it is an overall fantastic way to get a kick-start on something you want to write, or to get your proverbial ass to just produce writing you’ve wanted to write down for years. (It’s got a website here, btw, for the curious – no, they’re not paying me to plug, this is just me being all helpful-like to You The Reader.)

 SO! You might notice a certain Fatal Flaw in the logic of the above: 50,000 words of fiction. “Um, Ekscursionist?” “Yes, Hypothetical Reader?” “Yeah, about that ‘fiction’ thing…”

 NOT TO WORRY, little Hypothetical Reader! I will not tell you a story here! (No, you can read my stories elsewhere.) Here it is 100% truthiness, nothing more, nothing less! You see, I have gotten around this troublesome clause by becoming


A NANO REBEL!
Yes, these do exist. A NaNo Rebel is someone who’s writing something that’s not “technically” within the bounds of NaNo rules (eg – continuing an already-started novel, fleshing out a novella, writing a memoir (HELLO) or a biography, or maybe nonfictioning, etc). Basically, a rebel abides by the spirit of the law while sliding carefully around the letter thereof.

 tl;dr: I am not cheating, I promise.

 My aim, as you may already have guessed, is to get my patootie to write them 50k, but as blog entries. I consider this a noble endeavour, and you should too, since you have a absolutely delightful privilege of getting to read this, right?


 …right?


 (Hypothetical Reader, where are you going? Please come back, it was just sarcasm!)


 I suppose it is time for a MISSION STATEMENT: The Ekscursionist would like to take this NaNo-opportunity to write down many things onto this blog. Primarily among them (because it’s 1) most recent, and therefore 2) freshest in my mind, as well as 3) one of the most amazing experiences in my life) will be my recent trip to some of the Silk Road cities. If that should fill out the full 50k, great! If it doesn’t, then I’ll write more of various things until I do.

 In the event of grading and such coming in the way, and also real life, and etc – due to all those distractions, in the event that I don’t finish the entire 50k – well…

  Sic friat crustulum.