Hello, darklings!
With a melancholy sigh, I let All Hallow’s Eve go, and we turn out attention to harvest and family. Or, in my case, writing.
That’s right. Nanowrimo is in full swing. I usually rush the first week to get as many words as possible, speeding ahead on my word count to get a cushion. I’ve not done that this year. Instead, I’ve plodded along steadily, pacing myself between life chores, working overtime, and getting my word count daily.
Perhaps this is better, this gentler, steady pacing as opposed to the mad dash. We’ll see how I feel during the last two weeks of November. After all, this exercise has become something different for me than when it first started. At first, it was the matter of “Can I?”. Was I capable of sticking to a routine and writing the equivalent of around four paperback pages a day? The answer was yes, yes, I could.
But things have changed. I’ve been doing Nanowrimo for nearly two decades with only a few losses due to life events. My writing craft has only improved and become more diligent. Now, I don’t go into Nanowrimo struggling to reach 50,000 words by midnight on November 30th; I aim to gain 50,000 words on a novel that I can use.
That means I’m rough drafting with much more care than I used to. Not to say I don’t indulge in spontaneous scenes. I do! There is undeniable magic that happens when I get out of my muse’s way, and sometimes just writing is the way to make that happen. But at the end of this, I want a solid start to a novel that I can work on during the next three to five years and have a finished product to print.
Yes, I said next three to five years, and longer if it’s part of a series. If someone is able to make a really good novella that needs no editing and is ready for the bookshelves after 30 days of work with a full-time day job, hats off. I wish, but I’m not going to fool myself or anyone by claiming I have such talent. I need time to get it right, and I want to get it right.
So I continue to build on my base of work, crafting and drafting, and I love that people get to indulge in the joy and suffering with me for at least one month out of the year.
Sprint on, corvids, whether you’re doing Nanowrimo or not.
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