For those who don’t remember or haven’t been paying attention, I’m participating in my third National Novel Writing Month right now. That’s when I consume massive amounts of chocolate and caffeine and write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. After 20 days I’m over 34,000 words. That means I’m ahead of schedule, but not by much.
You can read along if you like, though I promise it’s full of typos, bad ideas, moralizing and inconsistencies (hey, it’s an unedited first draft).
Oh yeah, I started writing a novel today. Again. It’s called The Least (it’s a working title, I know, I’m not thrilled with it either). This is the third time I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month, the pressure-cooker event where you attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. In both previous attempts I won (i.e., finished).
So far I’m at 3,832 words, which puts me well ahead of schedule for the first day (woot, woot!). I find it really helps to start strong. It gives you a needed cushion for days when the words just don’t come. To save you the math, you have to write 1,667 words per day to stay on track.
And you can read along. I just set up a quick Blogspot blog where I’ll be posting the novel as I go. It will be full of typos, plot holes and it might completely suck, so reader be warned. It’s also a work of post-apocalyptic fiction, so abandon all hope ye who enter.
Hopefully it will be interesting and fun. I’d appreciate your comments and support, as long as they’re all positive (if you think my novel sucks, don’t tell me until December).
Next Saturday begins National Novel Writing Month and I think I’m going to partake again. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was editing my last novel in vague hopes of finishing in time for NaNoWriMo 2008. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually finish, but I think I’m getting close. At least close enough that I can hand it off to someone else and let them tell me if it’s any good or not. Which gets the thing off my desk for at least a couple weeks.
All of which begs the question: What on earth do I write about this year?
Part of me thinks I should stick to my strengths, which seem to be character-driven stories centered around tragedy (assuming you consider either of my novels good enough to be strengths). But another part of me thinks it’s time to try something new. Maybe some post-apocalyptic fiction? Maybe cheesy yet subversive Christian fiction (like a Christian version of Liar, Liar called Preacher, Preacher where the main character can’t stop himself from preaching at everyone, no matter how wildly inappropriate the situation is)? Maybe something else completely?
All day long I’ve been mulling the possibilities. The biggest danger is I only have one week to figure out what the heck I’m doing, and then 30 days to put down 50,000 words.
Tomorrow begins the grand experiment. One month. One novel. I’m tired of all the anticipation. I’m ready to sit down and make it happen.
I’ve started a blog to chronicle my month-long novel and word count, which will go by the working title of my novel, Downtown Dandelions (Patent pending, patent pending, patent pending!). I expect my blog entries here to dwindle in the next 30 days, though if you don’t detect such a drop, you better head over to that blog and make sure I’m keeping up with the word count.
Earlier I had the idea of making myself a T-shirt that announced to the world my 30-day accomplishment, assuming I make it. So far I’m liking the “Hello, My Name is Novelist” idea. Though I’d be happy to hear your suggestions.
My movtivation is in full effect. The blog is set up. The caffeine is ready. Last night I e-mailed 77 people, encouraging them to mock me if I fail. The sun and the stars are even aligning to help me. With Daylight Savings Time ending (that’s how it works, right?) it’s getting light out earlier, and I actually couldn’t sleep past 6:30 this morning. I think that will only help me get up each day and tackle those 1,667 words (of course the hours of daylight will only shrink as the month goes on). I even wrote about my commitment in my church’s youth group newsletter, somehow covering the topic in my “When I Was Your Age…” column.
There’s nothing left but the writing. Let’s get it on.