BY KATE FUEYO, Tampa Preparatory

As Aaron Sorkin, the award-winning screenwriter of The Social Network once said, "I love writing, but hate starting.” As I change and revise the opening sentence on the startlingly blank page in front of me over and over again, I keep chanting that mantra in my head. Come on, this guy's won Oscars, and he still has a problem with beginning a story.

Forget about the opening, then. I skip down a few lines on the screen and start writing the final battle. It's better than nothing.

Ten minutes later, I check the clock at the front of the car, clear my throat, and neatly hit "enter" on my iPad. The Word document in front of me is 400 words deep and counting; enough that I feel ready for the sort of grand proclamation one often makes on little sleep and too much Halloween candy.

"Let it be known that at exactly 7:38 a.m. Nov. 1, 2012, Kate Fueyo wrote the first words of her future bestseller."

My mom just cracks a smile. "You have your chemistry homework, right?"

National Novel Writing Month, when the goal is to spew out, I mean craft, a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, has begun.

My "thirty days and nights of literary abandon" start in the back of my car each morning, as I frantically get down as many words as I can in 15 minutes or less, depending on expressway traffic. Carrying my keyboard-equipped iPad with me at all times, I write during breaks, downtime after tests and any free moment. My dedication that first day gets me to 1,600 words, my daily goal, before lunchtime. Safe to say I haven't felt this accomplished since I got out of Algebra I with my GPA unscathed. I'll be lucky if I come out of this month with my GPA unscathed, but writers make certain sacrifices for this obsession. (Just kidding, Mom and Dad.)

So a few days into November and I'm a little bit behind but incredibly excited. The fantasy world I've created for this book, a Robin Hood type forest where gangs of thieves live in tree houses and magic is the gift of a persecuted few, is slowly coming together. My characters are feeling more alive by the word, and unlike last year, I actually know where the plot's going. As heroine Thea robs from the rich and fights with mysterious archers-to-be-love-interests, the words buzz out of my fingers like they've been waiting forever to emerge.

By the end of the day, my opening line is secure and, after forgetting my homework, my chemistry grade is not. But hey, sacrifices.

It's November. Let the storytelling begin.