November Novel

There has been only one posting on my blog in the past month, kids have been virtually ignored, laundry stacks up daily, and (organic) Mac and Cheese has been the food of the month.  Must be National Write a Novel in A Month month!  It's this crazy, insane, stupid thing that writers have been doing for years with a national organization dedicated to helping us writers get on our butts and complete a 50,000 word manuscript in the month of November.  And it works!

Every day in November, I wrote when ever I could snatch a moment at the computer and type away at the sequel to 'Red Nectar'.  It was a new approach for me. The goal was not to get out a great story, but to get the story out. In so doing, I did not re-read what I had written the day before, but rather continued where I had left off.  This kept me in the story, with Emily (the protagonist) and her friends following along with them on their daily activities.  I did little self-correcting but a lot of immersion therapy.  With the result that I got to 42,000 words and an almost complete rough draft of a story that I wasn't finding the time for with all the day-to-day stuff that fills the minutes of a mother's time purse.

After learning this new mode of relating to a story, it is one that I recommend and will keep for myself. I can hardly wait to finish and then re-read what crazy sentences I concocted in my writing stupor for the month.  The best result will be a story that needs little correction, has some inspiring moments, and will not embarrass me as a writer.  I suppose that is the desperate plea of every writer--to not be in utter self-humiliation when reading what I have written the night before.  Kind of like waking up to a one night stand after a night of unremembered drunkenness and hoping the person in bed with you is not a clown, serial killer, or a life time stalker.  We can only hope for the best.

Thank you to the folks at NaNoWriMo for the motivation for us authors to make our manuscripts happen. For being one of the brave few who will look a writer in the eye and tell him/her to get to work and write that story.  It is a courageous endeavor that few would take--writers can get moody, volatile, hostile and full of excuses when it comes to completing what we've been thinking of writing for years.  I appreciate your work, NaNoWriMo.

After this posting, I will be back to finishing up the sequel--probably called 'Black Licorice'.  And although the drive is ever present to get it done and over with, I will take more breathers and remember that I have children, laundry, and three blogs that love me, too.

Any writer out there reading this, get ready for November 2014.  We can do the next one together!

Heather Leigh