Help! A NaNoWriMo Plea

In just a few short days it will be November. A time when wanna be novelists the world over throw caution into the wind and embark on a crazy adventure and attempt to write fifty thousand words (or more) in only thirty days.

And you guessed it, I intend on being one of those sleep deprived crazed wanna be novelists. Which kinda works out well for me because some would say I am already on the side of crazy and thanks to my recent aversion to sleep I am already deprived there as well.

Way back in 2008, when for some reason life seemed somewhat simpler, I heard about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) just a few short days before the start date. To say I was keen was an understatement. I couldn't wait to get started, sitting up till midnight so I could start writing the moment it was the first. Come the end of the month when I had reached the goal I was beside myself with joy. Perhaps even over the moon.

It was one of the first times ever I really thought that I might have what it takes to crack this writing gig dream. Sadly though I no longer have a copy of that manuscript. Which kinda sucks. Actually it bites big hairy balls but what can you do?

Yes I know you can back up.

Well guess what smarty pants, I did. I even had a back up of my back up and today I am still left with sweet FA. But that's ok.

Well actually I have to make it ok because I can't do anything else about it. The story is still inside me, I think, perhaps even deep down know, that when the time is right the story will just write itself. Oh how I hope that time is now.

While I may have passed the required word count my story wasn't actually finished. I couldn't end it. The main character (Rayisa) had to deal with the death of her father (Grayson) only I just couldn't write it.

Naturally I felt rather close to Rayisa and she may or may not have been loosely based on myself, just as Grayson may have  resembled my own father in a few ways. At the time Dad was still alive and killing off Grayson felt like I was writing my father's yet to happen death.

Fast forward to November 2009 and I coming to terms with the fact that Dad is no longer with me. It seemed like the perfect time to write the rest of the story or perhaps even a new one. It wasn't. Neither was 2010 or 2011. Fingers and toes are crossed for 2012.

Only this year I don't think I am going to try and write THAT story. This year I am going to do things a little different.

This year I am going to go for

Thirty stories in thirty days.

Brilliant hey?

Rather than one long story I am going to try and write 30 pieces of flash fiction in 30 days and still reach the fifty thousand words. But I am going to need your help.

Now you probably don't know this, but I have another blog. One that is specifically for my fiction work. It is a little on the small side at the moment but that is all about to change. It is where I plan to post each of my thirty stories.

As you can imagine coming up with that many different ideas is not going to be easy and this is where you come into it. I want you to give me prompts for each day. On Friday when I was Flogging with Grace, I put a call out on Making it Matter for some suggestions.

The response was awesome and I have a few ideas to get me started but I need more. And what better place to ask for help than the #IBOT community?

So hit me a location, genre or theme, and an object or any other details you think should be included. Here is what I have been given so far

As you can see I still have a way to go before I get to 30. Thank you to to those who have already helped. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below or on my Facebook page and make sure you swing by Fly By Fiction after the first to see how it all unfolds.