Is it that time of year already?
August is half-gone, which means that the year is rapidly disappearing behind us. November is less than three months away. Almost before I’ve realised it, it’s time to consider the next iteration of an annual event that only seems to have finished yesterday.
I’m talking about NaNoWriMo, that crazy 30-day spell where you try to write 50,000 words towards a first draft.
I’m coming up on my seventh NaNo, starting in 2014 (missing 2015 – I had a note for that one) and every other November since, I’ve managed to write a novel; or at least the crucial bits of one.
Last year’s project, The Syk’m, will be published on October 15th this year. It joins Ribbonworld, Andora Pett and the Oort Cloud Café, Life and Other Dreams, The Sensaurum and the Lexis, and The Hitman and the Thief as my successful NaNo projects.
Every year, my preparation starts well before November. Which means now. To leave me clear to write uninterrupted, I prepare a series of posts for my website in advance, put everything else on hold and generally try to concentrate on whichever story I’ve decided to attempt.
This year, the choice is made more complicated by the new ideas that I’ve had, and the fact that I haven’t written as much as I would have liked, due to various external factors. I’m out of practice at writing 1667 words a day, every day, for long periods.
In the past, I’ve found that NaNo is good motivation, once I get started, I’m sure that my competitive streak will kick in and I’ll manage the word count.
Of the nine posts that I need to prepare (5 Monday and 4 Thursday), I have six, they are simply a rehash of my old NaNo projects, If I include a post about this year’s project, it means that I only have two to write. One will probably be on World-building, as it applies to the project I’m working on. I have no idea about the other one yet.
More importantly, I have to decide which one of my projects to work on. This is always tricky, this year I have about ten to choose from. They’re all at various stages of progress, some have 30000 words while some are just a brief collection of initial thoughts.
I like to pick one that I haven’t done much work on, this year that means a choice between these three,
I Remember Everything – a present-day psychological thriller.
We are Saul – Sci-fi dystopian romance.
My Sister Alex – A classic Sci-fi conspiracy chase
Over the next month or so, I’ll be making my mind up.
Providing I don’t get another (better or more interesting) idea in the meantime
I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.
All my publications can be found on my Amazon page,
