On Thursdays I like to plug the good blogging work of others, and it’s one of the most fun parts of my “job” here at A Woman’s Nest. I take great pleasure in finding interesting blogs and letting others know about them.
November, however, is National Novel Writing Month, and I am one of the crazies that is drafting a novel in 30 days. Given the other projects I lamented here a few days ago, I have to give up something. Sadly, for this week at least, it has meant giving up reading blogs.
Instead, in two days I have written 8,000+ words to a new novel, a family drama that begins at the Thanksgiving table. Three generations are each going through their own age-appropriate crises. The younger ones are trying to strike out on their own, though they still have tight ties to home that they are reluctant to give up. The older generation experiences the illnesses and deaths of dear friends that they’ve known since childhood, along with their own declining health. The middle generation, mine, wants to enjoy their midlife but are feeling weighed down by the needs of children and parents.
Of course, each generation is trying and failing to be heard by the other.
I do not plan in advance what I’m going to write. I have a loose outline to help me guide where I think the story will go, which I tend to toss out entirely in the first week as my characters hijack the story and start telling ME what it’s about.
So, I’m not going to keep hard and fast rules about the blog this month. I will do my best to keep up, but the NaNo calls, and I must follow. If I normally read and comment on your blog, bear with me; I’ll be back soon.
To my fellow NaNoers: Keep on keeping on. You can do it!
I envy you the ability to draft a novel, to have the idea, to be able to move it forward in a cohesive way toward conclusion – these things escape me!
I guess I just can’t imagine myself having that much to say about anything. Thank heavens you book writers do though, or I would be terribly bored most of the time!
Thank you for being a reader! I also think you have a unique gift of your own. To any of my readers checking out these comments, please go visit Neeks’s blog for some fun short fiction.
Great post! I am like you with NaNo. I write where my characters lead me.
Awesome job! Good for you! I’m a fellow NaNo-er doing a little morning check-in (to see who else is NaNo-ing around here).
Much encouragement coming your way on morning 3!
Will try to take your lead!
Good luck to you! Glad you took the time to visit…NaNo is crazy busy, so thank you!
Hi Nadine,
I can very much relate! It’s so hard to find the time to do everything we want to and need to do. And you’re trying to write a whole novel in a month?! I’m just trying to get a small ebook finished in 3 more weeks and am finding it difficult! So now you’ve inspired me.
Good luck
Hi, Nina! Thanks for the encouragement. What’s wonderful about NaNoWriMo is that it forces us to get our inner critics out of the way. I’m still revising last year’s winner (you’re a winner if you finish), so it’s not ready to put out to the public, but getting that first draft down is a challenge. I’m plugged in to many other NaNoers who are helping each other with encouragement via Social Media and local gatherings, where people get together just to write. Writing, as you know, can be a solitary endeavor, and it’s fun to have buddies around to cheerlead.… Read more »
Hey Nadine! I finally got around to reading the last two blog entries, the last on fictionalising people was great! And So true!
And I saw your NaNocount and you have blown me out of the water! You are an amazing woman! I am glad to know you and am SO excited to get to meet you so soon! You’ve inspired me to do my blog entry now! Keep up the good work but don’t burn out!
Always, Samantha
Thanks so much, Sammi. Your friendship and support mean the world to me.