Here it is – November! Thanksgiving plans are gearing up, the chilly air is settling in, and Hallmark Christmas movies are in full swing (hooray!). Don’t scoff. You know you’re already watching them wearing your favorite comfy PJs and sipping a steaming cup of hot cocoa.
But I digress.
If you’re a writer, this month means something else – it’s NaNoWriMo time! Every November 1st, the National Novel Writing Month kicks in and writers of all stripes hit the keyboard, pounding away to finish a novel that sits around 50K words. There are success stories in which that crappy thrown together first draft – after much sweat and revision – emerges as an agented and published novel. Many of us harbor that hope as we start throwing down those first words, but honestly it takes more than hope to propel the wordsmith through a pretty arduous endeavor.
It’s the process, it’s the anticipation of seeing an idea come to life on the pages and come to fruition in just 30 short days. Even if one ends up shy of the goal, characters are born and telling their stories.
How cool is that?
So here I sit, typing up a NaNoWriMo blog post. Five years after a failed attempt, I’m in once again. The last time, I grappled quite unsuccessfully with an Arthurian inspired YA. This year, I’m writing a middle grade that hits closer to home. It’s a FIELD OF DREAMS x THE PARENT TRAP x SOAR that will hopefully possess the essence of each, mixed up into a new story. Wish me luck!
Cheers to November – an unlikely month for new beginnings!
