Day 3 finds me in desperate need of some "friendly competition." Although I alluded to this in the entry for Day 2 ("If he can do it, I can do it"), I think this needs more explanation. Ever since I started participating in NaNoWriMo several years ago, I've learned that I have more success at doing most things IF somebody I know (or don't even know!) is doing whatever that particular thing is WITH me. This gives me something I call "friendly competition" -- that "If he can do it, I can do it." mentality. Although I generally don't think of myself as a very competitive person, I can be if the conditions are right! NaNoWriMo is one of those times when the conditions are right! :)

While participating in NaNoWriMo the past few years, I've found the "friendly competition" I needed by comparing my progress with those NaNoWriMo participants whose nick name/screen name contained the letters "bas" (my screen name). I would search the NaNoWriMo Web site, and then write down the word count for all of these people. I would then pick out a few of the more promising ones, and then try to surpass (or at least match) their word count -- by constantly saying to myself... "If he can do it, I can do it!" Although I wasn't able to keep up with quite a few of the people on my list (including my good friend), there were quite a few people I WAS able to surpass as far as word count is concerned.

This year, however, is a totally different story. The main feature of the NaNoWriMo Web site that allowed me to engage in this "friendly competition" is NOT working this year. Apparently, the staff in charge of the NaNoWriMo Web site decided, in their infinite wisdom, that they were outgrowing their old site, so they "ported" (sounds a lot like science fiction to me) the NaNoWriMo to another server -- one that is NOT working as well as the old one was! Unfortunately, they've deactivated the feature ("Author Search") that allowed me to easily engage in some "friendly competition" during previous years' NaNoWriMo events -- because it was so resource-intensive. Although I can understand why they did what they did, I just wish that they had done all of the work prior to November 1st, the start of this year's NaNoWriMo event and made sure that everything was working properly! Ah, well... Hopefully, the Web site will be "back to normal" -- with the "Author Search" feature working again -- SOON!

In the mean time, however, I've got to start collecting the URLs for some of the other participants (though not necessarily those with "bas" in their nick names since I don't know many of them!) so that I can add them as writing buddies. So... if you're participating in NaNoWriMo and would like to engage in a bit of "friendly competition" this year, please add me to your list of buddies, and I'll do likewise! If previous years are any indication, then I'm going to need all the "friendly competition" I can get in order to make it into the "winner's circle" this year!

Good luck in your writing... or whatever it is you're happily engaged in at the moment! I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow "writing buddies" in the "winner's circle" in 27 days!

Current word count: 1219

Current Mood: annoyed