NaNoWriMo

For those of you not yet fluent in abbreviation, November is also known as “National Novel Writer’s Month”. There are groups that meet in cities and towns all over the country, encouraging each other to meet word counts and deadlines designed to finish a novel in one month.

Now, I realize how crazy this must sound to anyone who isn’t a serious writer. It sounds crazy to a lot of people who are! But it’s a great way to find support and accountability, and it’s just the rough draft we’re going for (I think). I’ve heard rumors that there are “winners” of “NaNo” who get their novels published….

Obviously I haven’t looked into it very well. The social aspect of it was enough to keep me at bay, and the prospect of maybe getting published if I can get my novel finished wasn’t enough to motivate me to write (go ahead, cry, I won’t judge; it’s a painful truth for me as well).

However, I am now finished with the whole first section of Coming Home (although I’m undecided on whether the finished product will be divided into sections), which contains the first nine chapters. I’ve also written chapters ten and eleven, and four others later in the story, so my focus now is sort of on twelve.

I say sort of because I could just as easily write the last chapter next, and work my way backwards; or start on chapter 21 and jump around. I have them all outlined or summarized or some combination of the two; let’s just say I know what I want to happen in each one, I just have to write them.

There it is my friends, the bald truth: I just have to write. It sounds like such a simple, matter of fact notion. And yet….I’ve got nothing. I wrote chapter eleven on October 13th. I looked at the calendar and realized there were 11 full weeks (plus a few extra days) left in 2012, and I had 21 chapters left to write. That meant if I could average two chapters a week, Coming Home would be finished before 2013. A reasonable goal, to be honest; so how many chapters have I written in the last month? None. Zero. Although last night I wrote most of chapter twelve (it helped that half of it was already written and intended for something else that I scrapped). Still. Something is wrong with this picture people!!

Is it still possible for me to finish it by the end of the year? Absolutely. I just need to write. And I will. Keep checking back friends, watch the miracle unfold.