‘Twas the Night Before Nano (A Tribute to Another Failed Novel)

‘Twas the night before NaNo

And all through the town

All the writers were waiting

To start the word count

The outlines were done

And the Pansters prepared;

All the keyboards were set

And the pen-tips all bared

The authors were hoping

For the Muse to arrive

While visions of Best Sellers

Were not hard to derive

And I with my coffee

(With more in reserve)

Settled down at my notebook

And heard my cat purr

When on the minute before

November the First

I felt the excitement inside

‘Til my heart was fit to burst

Then the clock struck the hour

And just as planned

The race was on;

NaNoWriMo began

Through the ups of Week One

I cruised through my plot

As characters took shape,

A story was begot

All was going great

And heading down the right track

When came an unforeseen

And unfortunate setback

Its name was Week Two

And down in the mire

My mind was thrust

Without an idea to inspire

I battled the infamous

Writer’s Block

But of my injuries

I had yet to take stock

10K behind!

What a tragedy to behold

So by the end of Week Two

I was not feeling so bold

Week Three hit me

Like a blow to the heart

For the time I had lost

And the words left to start

(The musical came at a most

Inopportune time

For writing a novel was hard

With not much downtime)

In a flash Week Four arrived

Like a thief in the night

And with a glimmer of hope

I saw the end was in sight

But alas! My failure

Was imminent, I fear

For I was so far behind

And December so near

In despair I clutched

At my novel’s beginning

And knew there was no hope

Of this year’s winning

So with a grand heavy sigh

I put my book on a shelf

And tried to find a way

To be pleased with myself

Another year done

And November gone by

Without a finished manuscript

Just another failed try

But I told myself

Not to shed a tear

For this NaNo was crazy

Besides, there’s always next year...