Things I have learned about NaNoWriMo:

1. If you want to write a mystery, have it plotted before you start writing. And if you start to do this anyway, don't hang on for too long after you discover that, really, really, you need to plot it before you write it.

2. It's good to have an alternative at hand.

3. Don't sign up for it if you're working 12 hour days.

4. If you manage to get vacation time off, don't do it and stay at home where your mother's sister is visiting, so they spend a lot of time visiting family and showing her the sights and you're left in charge of the puppy, the cat, and the potbellied pig.

5. Concentrating on a single thing makes me nuts. Hulu in the background helps. Especially if you decide to find out why your parents loved certain shows in the 1970s.

6. Your other characters pop out of the woodwork with annoying regularity whining "what about meeeee?" Yes, John Hart, I'm looking at you.

7. Torchwood fans are the greatest. Ask for a beta and people just pop up, blue pencils at the ready (or the computer age equivalent) ready to help.

8. Writing a Regency romance version of The Count of Monte Cristo only occurs to someone who has a genetically twisted brain. Like me.