And so November begins. I’ve realized that I’ve stacked a lot on my plate this month and by no means do I regret it. There’s something about being too busy which I like more than not being busy enough.

I started continued my novel today, though my word count starts over today. My goal for the month is the 50,000 words needed to win NaNoWriMo. That’s an average of 1,667 words per day. I’m trying a method that I haven’t in earlier years and that’s to write in short fifteen to thirty minute bursts. It’s supposed to keep you focused and it makes things easier. I’ve done two bursts already today and I’m up to 1,400 words already. After I finish writing this (which doesn’t count towards my word total unfortunately) I’m going to finish up with at least 275 more words for the day.

I’ve also started my push-up/sit-up challenge again for November. The past few months have given me ample excuses to not meet my goal. I’m not going to let that happen this month. One hundred of each a day or a total of 3,000 for the month. I’ve only got 25 push-ups left to do today. Starting off strong, no?

As you might have noticed by the new blue bar up at the top of the page, I’m also growing a mustache and hoping for donors to support my sad quest. Movember is a worldwide project to raise awareness about prostate cancer and to raise money for finding the cure. Men pledge to grow out a mustache in November and readers like you pledge your money to help the cause. Mine will be sad, support it.

Today I’ve also started my 30 Days to a Better Man challenge. One of my friends, Joe, challenged me to do this with him. I’ll be posting daily updates here throughout the challenge. Today’s task is to define my core values and I’m allowed no more than five. Here are mine, without explanation:

• Family
• Humor
• Knowledge
• Integrity
• Creativity

And finally, I’ll be keeping you updated on life after Facebook. I deactivated last night and made sure I can’t access it on my computer. Today, I had a mix of withdrawal and habit coming into play. I think it was more habit. My mind just naturally thought to open Facebook to kill time. What’s that say about the site?

So, if you keep coming back during the month, I’m sure I’ll have updates on my various progress. I plan on doing daily updates for my 30 Days to a Better Man challenge, so there’s that.