I’ve got what may be the best first chapter ever written for a coming-of-age novel, based loosely on the summer I turned nine. But that’s all I’ve got; with that particular manuscript, every time I pick it up, I play around with that first chapter, over and over again. I haven’t written anything further except the closing scene, but let me tell you, what I have is choice!
It took me close to two years to finish the manuscript for Fifteen, a Christian women’s novel that’s 90,000 words long. (Hopefully, it won’t take that long to sell it, but who knows?)
So I’m really pumped–and challenged–about trying National Novel Writing Month this year. It’s a simple idea–write 50,000 words on a single novel between November 1 and November 30. I tried last year, but petered out after about the first week. This year, I’m going to be starting a new project. It’s about a forty-something-year-old woman who has to come to turns with a horrific car accident she caused when she was very young.
How will I do it? Well, I’ve decided I’ll give up Facebook‘s Farm Town game, a particular addiction of mine, for the month. I’m going to shoot for writing an hour in the morning and maybe an hour every other night. While my good friend Linda Au sets a daily word count (I think she said 1,667 words), I’m going to focus more on a chapter per writing session. And I’m not going to beat myself up if I miss a session… or the 50K for the month, for that matter.
The biggest thing I’ll have going this year that I didn’t last year is that two of my online writing group friends (we call ourselves the Novel Buds), Michele Huey and Virelle Kidder, are also doing NaNoWriMo this year! We keep each other accountable all year on our writing projects, and I know doing this with them will provide a big boost.
Are you doing NaNoWriMo? If so, I’d be happy to be your buddy! My username is MelanieRigney. Happy writing–and park that editing voice at the door!
