Back on my old blog, I used to blog about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as I bumbled my way through it. Although I didn’t participate in the challenge last year, I’m back and ready to compete. I have to admit, if my fiance wasn’t also participating, I might be tempted to skip this one again. However, I’m nothing if not incredibly competitive and I have a story in mind so . . . I’m in.
For the uninitiated, NaNo involves writing 50,000 words during the month of November. It’s actually how many of my first drafts have been achieved. I previously “won” NaNo in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. All those drafts have gone into the bank and will be reworked numerous times before I finally release them. While the first drafts of But By Degrees and Valerie weren’t written during NaNo, they were written under NaNo conditions. I focused on getting the first draft out as quickly as possible and, for the most part, that philosophy seems to have served me well.
In 2010 and 2015, I couldn’t get to the end of my first drafts. The novel idea from 2010 was subsequently altered massively and completed in 2011, while the 2015 draft is still waiting to be completed. I’ve just looked back at my “defeat” post on my old blog and I couldn’t help but smile:
For the last couple of months I’ve been trying to work on the fourth draft of ‘Max’. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it could be a good novel if I can pull it together. I marked up all the edits and started implementing them before realising I’d need to break off for NaNo. The trouble is, I’m missing it.
So, ‘Max’ turned into Valerie, my second release. It looks like my brain knew what it was about in 2015. That idea’s a good one, and the story is definitely something I want to explore, but it obviously wasn’t the right time.
Let’s hope that 2017 is a year of NaNo success.
PS: My author name is CharmedLassie – feel free to add me!
