10. Drink wine. Wine loves writers.

Personally, I think this should be #1 on International Business Times' National Novel Writing Month Rules 2015: 10 Tips For A Successful NaNoWriMo although the other nine tips are pretty good.

I noticed that coffee wasn't part of this list which is a huge omission. (You can't drink wine all day, can you? Wait, can you?) I'm not sure there would be any literature at all without coffee. Coffee houses are made for writing. First of all, there's coffee if I didn't mention it before. There are often comfortable chairs and sometimes a fireplace. There's always a window on the world. Just sitting in a cafe inspires. Plus, coffee houses usually have free WiFi.

I'm not talking about Starbucks here. You know how I feel about the Green Siren but November is also a great month to check out your local coffee purveyors. There's usually one right next door or up the block from the Mermaid. They usually have a more relaxed vibe, your local coffee house, good music, and interesting patrons. Some might say they even have better coffee but I'm staying out of that.

If you've ever thought about writing anything - doesn't have to be a novel - this is a great exercise in the practice of writing. Writing takes practice and NaNoWriMo is a great place to get started. It's daunting, yes, but so is writing a novel. You have to start somewhere and if you're like me, then having goals and a schedule work best.

I've written a couple of novels this way - if you count lots of lots of words strung together in a more-or-less cohesive manner a novel. The years I haven't participated in NaNo, I've threatened to go back and edit these constructs into something that might resemble something a person might want to read. This is one of those years, one where I'll use "editing" as an excuse for Not Writing. Editing probably won't happen either but that doesn't mean I don't think about it. (And, it's the thought that counts, remember?)

I'm going to think about it some more over a cup of coffee. And if nothing happens, I'll think about it over a glass of wine.