National Novel Writing Month

So it's November, which means it's National Novel Writing Month. I'm a rebel according to the official website, since I am not starting a brand new novel this month but working at adding 50,000 words to an existing ms.

The challenge is simple, um hm, choke, choke, just write about 1667 words per day, which equals 6-7 pages. And by November 30 you have the first draft of a 50,000 word novel. I've signed up for this before and then dropped out. This time I'm going to do it. My goal was to have the first draft done by December 31 so if I can get 50,000 words by November 30 I'll be close to the end. As of today I have 20,052 words of the draft, plus two notebooks of scenes written in preparation to plug in wherever they will fit. I think I can do this!!

The obstacle is time and energy, meaning dragging myself home from work, and now it will be dark out by the time I do get home, and getting in a workout, dinner and a shower before knuckling down to write my requisite 7 pages. It's a chore. But I love it.

And all that talk about plotting? I have the arc of the story and the energetic markers in my head and roughly labeled on a chapter chart. Now I'm just writing by the seat of my pants. By chapter four my characters have already led me in new directions and the scenery is just fine so I'm following them all the way.

Stick around, let's see what happens.

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