November represents a significant shift in the year. While I lived in the Cincinnati area, it was the start of that fast slide into winter when the weather got colder and a whole lot grayer until April. It’s also the start of the sprint into holiday chaos.
Since moving to Florida, the seasons are a lot harder to discern, but I am using the air conditioning less and it’s not quite as uncomfortable to be out in jeans when I’m walking the dog. I’ve begun the process of contemplating holiday shopping but haven’t hit the planning phase yet.
But November represents NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. It’s that special time of year when all writes and crafter of words buckle down to churn out 1,666 words every day for one month, culminating in that great total of 50,000 words. Which is a pretty good chunk of change when it comes to a book.
For me, 50K isn’t a book. For me, it’s half a book. At 50K, I’m just getting warmed up. After looking at what’s popular on Amazon right now among readers, I’m seeing that I write long books. Seriously … long freaking books. So many books are selling now that are 20K, 40K … maybe 60K… (Just a heads up that I’m looking heavily at romance).
Friends, Shiver came in at 103K.
I like long books. I like getting the chance to wander around in a character’s, to see the character grow, change, screw up, make amends, screw up again, get hurt, triumph…
But I digress…
What was my point?
That’s right. 50K and NaNoWriMo.
NaNo is hard for me to schedule because I’m writing or editing all year round. By the time November rolls around, I’m usually in the middle of a project or editing something so I have to do a weird amalgam for the month.
This year is no different.
Rinda is hard at work on the rough draft for the second book of the Unbreakable Bonds series. (If you’ve read Shiver, you’ve already seen a sneak peek of Book 2.) And I’ve gotten a few short stories written for Lucas and Andrei to hold you over until that book is ready. (Don’t worry. We’ll be releasing them for free here on the site starting in a couple weeks.)
She’s promised that I’ll start seeing chapters by the end of the month so I need something to keep me out of trouble. (insert evil cackle) I was working on a different story but that’s been put to the side because something went horribly wrong (that’s a story for another day).
So…. I have started writing scenes for the third book of the Unbreakable Bonds series. Mwahahaha! Oh, I’m writing some of the fun, angsty, awkward, naughty bits now. That probably says a lot about me. I love writing the awkward bits; the places where characters are squirmy and uncomfortable — it usually means they’re stuck facing something they would very much rather not confront. I’ll probably even throw another short story in there. Maybe tinker with the “short story turned novella that wants to grow up to be a novel” trainwreck.
The point is … I’ll hit that 50K but it’s gonna be a mess this month.