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Thursday, December 03, 2015

Writing in NaNoWriMo

For several years I've had different writer pals encourage me to participate in Nation Novel Writing Month, aka NanoWriMo. I always just laughed and said "Maybe next year," and left it at that.  This year, I felt challenged by several author friends and so I did it.

For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write fifty thousand words in a month, making a coherent story. The goal is to write approximately 1,776 words per day. My challenge was to write just around that much. As many of you know, I'm wordy. When you reach 50K you make up a cover and post that you're done. Everyone who writes 50K words wins.

I loved this challenge, absolutely loved it as it gave my writing new purpose. I did not plan or plot my story, which came from a dream I'd had a few weeks before NaNoWriMo started.  I literally made it up as I went along, making me the ultimate Pantser. Completely flew by the seat of my pants. I'm pretty proud since I have at least an idea and rough outline when I start a story.

While I was writing in NaNoWriMo I was also working on my Paladin project, No Owner's Manual, at the same time, trying to get that finished. On average I was writing about 5K words per day.  For some reason, working on two projects at the same time was easier than concentrating on just one thing.  There were some days that were harder than others, but I made the time for NaNoWriMo if for no other reason than I had a goal that I had to achieve.

The thing I discovered?  If I get up and start writing early, I tend to write all day, telling the stories that are going on in my head. I was working on the second in the Instruments of Wrath series, Tangled Strings, and before I knew it, I'd written well over 5K words, way past the 2K goal I set for myself each day. I had the dogs outside, the guys were at work, school, just being quiet. I got two chapters done.

So, now that November is over, I am busy outlining some new stories while working on editing No Owner's Manual, and Consciousness for publication as soon as I can get some covers. Meanwhile Tangled Strings is chugging along, and I've got the plot outlined for the third in the Instruments of Wrath series, Uncertain Principles, Jyseth's story. I have also fleshed out two shorts I will be doing in that series as well. There may be an addition to Consciousness as well.  One of the characters I wrote in that story intrigued me.

So, November was an incredibly productive month for  me. I'm hoping December is as well, but there is so much to do with the holidays and family birthdays and anniversaries going on. Stay tuned for more stories!

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