Nanowrimo!

So begins my "Nanowrimo" novel for this month. "Nanowrimo" stands for "National Novel Writing Month," which takes place every November.

The object: to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. The prize: the satisfaction of knowing that you disciplined yourself to do it. And a downloadable certificate from the Nanowrimo website.

This is Nanowrimo's 10th anniversary, and thousands of people all over the world are doing this. In fact, in the past there have been several published novelists come out of Nanowrimo.

Over the years I have thought about doing this, but other things impinged on my time. This year I thought, "When am I ever going to have enough time?"

Still, it's insane, with the work schedule I have. Also, because I write for a living, my creative writing has fallen by the wayside as I have not wanted to spend my free time, what little there is of it, doing yet even more writing.

But I mentor a writers' support group, and gave them the challenge to do Nanowrimo. Out of guilt I realized that if I were going to challenge them to do it, I'd better model it. So I signed up.

This will be my second novel. The first is unpublished, as it was part of a trilogy, and I had started working on the second book years ago but never finished it.

This novel has no plan. I just sit down and start typing. Characters bloom out of the mist of my subconscious mind with their own feelings and agendas. Over it all is some sort of mystical something that is going on. I'll wait to let it reveal itself, and that's the exciting part: I have no idea where this book is going. I'm just along for the ride.

I figured out that in order to create 50,000 words, I have to write 1666 words per day. For the first three days I did that; I missed a day yesterday, so I have two days to catch up on now. My word counter counts asterisks that separate sections as a word, so I figure if I write 1670 words a day, I'll end up with 50,100 words at the end of the month, and then when I replace those asterisks with spaces, it'll still make the minimum.

If you are interested in doing Nanowrimo, it's not too late. Sign up at nanowrimo.org. There are lots of great articles and support there.

Here's an excerpt from mine. What does it all mean? I don't know; I'm sure I'll find out.

A red fox crept out from the grass and stood in the middle of the drive.

Nan's whole body froze, and she held her breath, her fingers poised at the light switch.

The fox sat down and looked up at the sky. Nan could have sworn it was looking at Orion.

Then it rose, turned completely around, and gazed toward the doorway of her cabin. It lifted its head ever so slightly and its eyes found hers. It stared right at her, then casually turned and moved off into the trees at the left, like an actor exiting the stage.

Nan was surprised to find tears streaming down her cheeks. What on earth was wrong with her?

She completed the movement to switch off the light, plunging the porch and driveway into an utter darkness her eyes could not pierce.

Then she stood for a long time where she was, the only sound the shushing of the wind through the trees outside, which she could hear through the door.

Finally she moved through the lightless cabin to her bedroom. Without bothering to turn on a light, Nan fell across her bed, and her sobs began in earnest.