So I’ve only successfully drafted a 50,000 word manuscript one year out of the four I’ve participated, but I still love National Novel Writing Month, which is November. If nothing else, it’s something to look forward to about an otherwise cold, rainy, darker-by-the-day month that’s only a taste of the icy misery to come (can you tell I’m not a winter person?) Besides, any event that encourages creatives to prioritize their creativity is a Good Thing in my worldview. I’ve badly needed to prioritize writing and haven’t been very disciplined about it, so that’s my main goal this NaNo.

And I do have a leg up this year, since I’ve already drafted the core of my storyline in just under 20,000 words. Now it’s a matter of building around it and making it coherent, tying together loose ends, and writing the ending. Easier said than done, of course, but it sure beats having a zero word count and no direction! So yesterday I re-read what I’d already written and today I added 1,000 words–500 before I wasn’t sure what to do and another 500 after I took a shower and worked out what the story needed.

So, to all of you who are doing NaNo, either by the official rules or adapted to suit your own writing purposes, happy November, and good luck to us all!