We’ve tended to avoid participating in NaNoWriMo.
Here’s the thing; it’s a great program. It gets words on paper, which is really what needs to happen for young writers to evolve. It’s the sort of thing that sharpens one’s skills and progresses one towards their first published novel. All of this is good, wonderful stuff.
It just hasn’t typically been for us. We’ve got a couple of novels published, and more on the way. We’re not exactly new authors, even if we are young. And generally, in November, we’re in the middle of a revision on a novel. That, by the way, remains true; we’re about a third of the way through our revisions on Falling From Grace. So we’ve watched our friends participate, and we’ve stayed in our little cave, editing.
But this year, something’s different.
Really, that something is our location. I took a job in Shelton, Washington last February. Shelton’s a great little town with a lot of character, but I don’t actually know anyone who lives here. I go to work, come home, jump on the computer. Esther’s basically the same. Our world has condensed down from a great social circle to the two of us and work, and that’s getting a little old. Time to meet some new friends.
So, we’re sharpening up our…keyboards? Wow, that phrase doesn’t work anymore.
We’re dusting off our laptops (from the accumulated dust of Campcon), flexing our fingers, and preparing to draft a 50,000 word novel, each, in a month. Those drafts will then be stuck in a drawer in December; revisions on them will happen much, much later, as Falling From Grace needs to reassert its importance in December.
We’re looking forward to meeting new friends and taking on new challenges. But it’s going to be a hell of a month.