You know, I feel bad for November. I mean, people just do not like November! They just want to skip through it to the next month (December) to celebrate Christmas and get lots of presents. I bet if November were a person, he would feel very sad. 😥

People get so bored with November, in fact, that they come up with these kooky traditions to try to help the month pass quicker. One of the most entertaining is No Shave November (aka Noshember), where, you guessed it, people accept a challenge to not shave for a whole month (gasp). I know, inconceivable, right? (Sarcasm here). I mean, what’s the point? There are rumors that it was founded to honor cancer or something like that, but wouldn’t honoring cancer involved a lot of shaving to, you know, represent the cancer victims?

But that’s beside the point. Even girls participate in Noshember. No, they don’t grow facial hair (thank goodness, that would be embarrassing!). They just don’t shave their legs. Not as tough of a challenge, especially considering that boys grow hair on their faces, a body part that is showing at all times. Girls have it easy.

Another cool tradition is National Novel Writing Month, fondly renamed NaNoWriMo. I’m actually doing this one. Basically, it is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel only during the month of November. You can start on the first, but you have to have it finished by the 30th. It’s cool, because if you complete the 50,000 word challenge, a publishing website call create space (I think, don’t quote me on that) will publish five paperback copies of your novel for free! It’s a really good deal, and you get that novel you’ve been wanting to write!

This will make my second novel, if I complete it in time. My first one actually isn’t done yet, but it’s getting there 😉

The most popular November tradition is, you guessed it, BLACK FRIDAY (Cue dramatic music and deep announcer’s voice), a day where innocent people out shopping are victimized by their relentless, cruel, heartless fellow shoppers in a fight to get the best deals (because seriously, Black Friday deals are fantastic.)

I heard someone talking the other day about how they wish they could just skip November, but I was all like, “NOOOOO MY BIRTHDAY IS IN NOVEMBER!” So that’s what spurred this post. I swear, the strangest things inspire me.