Did you miss me? I took a whole month off from blogging to write a novel. And I didn't actually write a a whole novel, but I wrote 50,000 words, divided into chapters, with characters and dialogue and scenes. Those 50,000 words might eventually whip themselves into shape and turn themselves into a novel. I'm going to leave them alone for a while, and see what happens. But you don't have to finish a novel to win NaNoWriMo; you just have to write 50,000 words, and I wrote 50,000 words.
I also wrote this almost-daily NaNoWriMo diary. Soon I'll writing once again about absolutely nothing in particular. It's nice to be back.
November 1: Time to get started. I had an idea for another novel, but that’s for next year. This year, it’s this book or bust.
November 2: 3,800 words on day 1. I was hoping for 5,000 but almost 4,000 will do. That’s a lot of words in one day.
November 3: I passed the 5,000-word mark, so I’m 10 percent there. Oh, and there was an election.
November 4: You know, if I could write a novel made up of nothing but snappy dialogue, I’d be done in a week. Meanwhile, we have no idea who’s going to be President on January 20.
November 5: Why can’t I write a novel made up of nothing but snappy dialogue? Who’s going to stop me?
November 7: I forgot to write anything for yesterday, though I did get about 1,000 words in. And in unrelated news, we have a President-elect.
November 8: I think I’d get more done if I stopped congratulating myself for my hilariously clever chapter titles. That’s about twenty words out of 50,000. Do the math, as they say.
November 9: It’s Monday night. I should be writing and instead, I’m re-watching Chapelle’s monologue.
November 10: 50,000 words in a month does not necessarily equate to a novel in a month. As long as I have the former then I can worry later about the latter. That was fun, wasn’t it? See what I did there?
November 11: A Federal holiday. Trying to pile up the words to build a cushion.
November 12: Yes, readers do need to know how a character makes meatballs. So I’m gonna tell ‘em.
November 13: That meatball part was my favorite thing to write. Maybe someone will make some cookies or caulk a bathtub, and I’ll describe that, too. 1,000 words is 1,000 words.
November 14: It’s Saturday and I want to try to get 5,000 words in. I have about 250 so far. So I only have to do that 19 more times.
November 15: Season 4 of "The Crown" might interfere with my plans to get this thing past the halfway mark today.
November 16: No it didn’t! I’m past 25,000 words now. The second half begins.
November 17: I was very tempted to quit today, but then I snapped out of it and now I’m cooking with Crisco.
November 18: You know what "cooking with Crisco" means, don’t you? That’s figurative language. Because I’m a novelist.
November 19: Can I attend a virtual community association meeting, give a speech, and write a novel all at the same time? Only one way to find out.
November 20: I kind of like writing fiction, but I can’t wait for this month to be over.
November 21: I’d rather read than write. I can read 50,000 words in a day, easy. But if I’m going to get to 50,000 words written by November 30, then I have to put the book down and get going.
November 22: I had an idea that I don’t particularly love, but it’s an idea and I’m going to write through it because 50,000 words is all I care about right now. I’ll sort out the details later.
November 23: 14,500 or so to go. I will need to ramp up production if I want to get to 50,000 by next week.
November 24: Sometimes you have to write on your phone, while you’re sitting in your parked car. 1,000 words.
November 25: It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and I feel a little sick, so of course I’m afraid I have the ‘rona. But I can still write.
November 26: Turkey, wine, a nap, and almost 2,000 words.
November 27: Today was not as productive a day as I had hoped. Day-after-Thanksgiving torpor is not compatible with productivity.
November 28: 46,000 words seems like a lot but I have only three days, (well, two and two-thirds) to write 4,000 more, and I don’t know if I have that many left in me.
November 29: 50,024. I made it with one day to spare.
November 30: And now I’m not going to look at this thing for at least a month. Maybe longer. See you next year.
