Gather some earthworms from the garden and put them in a container full of oatmeal moistened to have the consistency of dirt. Let them eat their way through it for a day or so. Earthworms are conveniently self-stuffing. It also gets the dirt out of their digestive tracts.

Once they are nice and stuffed with oatmeal, throw them in a fry pan with a little hot oil and fry until crunchy. Use them as you would bacon bits.

How do I know this? My class read the book in primary (elementary) school. Our teachers came up with the recipe and we ate them in an omelette. To this day, I wish I had kept the article and photograph that appeared in the local paper.

Mmmm, crunchy earthworms...

It was the perfect beginning. I had a four day weekend to kick off NaNoWriMo. Four uninterrupted days of writing bliss. I had already figured out that I needed to write 1,667 words a day for 30 days to meet the target.

Hell, that’s about the length of a healthy blog, isn't it?

So how did it really transpire? I faffed around, avoiding the computer Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that I sat down and realised how many words I needed to write each day to catch up. So I took that number (2,000), added another 500 per day just in case, and got down to it.

Then last Friday, the writer's block fairy hit me and Saturday was a non-event in terms of writing. So I spent today catching up on the 7,500 I'd missed.

By next Tuesday, I should have caught up with the 1,667 words per day people. Once I hit that goal, I'll figure out if I'll keep setting a scorching pace, or scale things back a bit.

Don't get too excited. Most of what I'm writing would be summarily dismissed by a good editor. It's crap. But I'm meeting my goals, no matter how crap it is.

I've been very strict with myself. No deleting unless it's being replaced with more words. And believe me, some of the stuff I'm leaving in is excruciating. But it's part of my word count. And that is what is important here. Quantity, not quality.

By the end of November, I'll have no excuses. The authors out there are right. If you want to write, then write. Sitting around wishing you had the time is not getting words on the page.

Now, if you'll just excuse me, I have a neglected husband to attend to. :D