NaNoWriMo 1

Another November, another National Novel Writing Month, an opportunity for thousands of amateur and professional writers to get down to work and produce an entire 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Of course 50,000 words doesn’t exactly add up to a complete novel, and 30 days is not sufficient time to produce anything of quality (especially for those of us holding down a day job), but National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) is always a good opportunity to get inspired, to focus on your writing, and to try to increase your productivity to 1,667 words a day.

I’ve never taken NaNoWriMo seriously enough to finish the thing, that is write a complete 50,000 word novel in November, and I have no intention to start now. My “official” NaNoWriMo project is not even a novel, but a 20,000 word novella that I’m planning to self-publish as an e-book. And it is the sequel to a first novella that I am still working on that I hope to finish by the 15th. So both novellas will only add up to about 40,000 words, are actually two separate stories and I’ve already finished two and a half chapters of the first. Those are three rules that I’ve broken right from the start. 

So clearly my goal is not to win NaNoWriMo, but to use the time to complete other projects, my own personal interpretation of the event. The novellas I’m working on are science fiction time-travel adventures titled Tethys Trades: Pirates and Dinosaurs and Tethys Trades: Convicts and Castaways. More details on these works will follow as I use this blog to report on my progress (or lack thereof).

Good luck to all NaNoWriMo participants!