That'll Do It...

Well, just like that, 50,000+ words have come out of me. Here it is, Day 26 out of 30 and I've gotten my first NaNoWriMo 'novel' under my belt a few minutes ago.

Here's the little tag to prove it.

I'd love to say that the book is done and perfect and that I'm going to be sending it in the mail for agents and publishers to read, but the truth is this:

1. It's not done. I think it'll be done somewhere around the 100,000 word mark.

2. I don't know that anyone else is ever going to get to read it. It's a grisly, disgusting and downright nasty little book that I'm not sure I want to necessarily associate with my 'brand' if you will. It makes people queasy when I talk about it, so...I don't know.

3. It was an idea I had over 5 years ago. At the time, I wrote 16 pages of it, hated it and promptly shelved the idea. It's now grown into a more robust and richer story, but it's still kind of shlocky. (is that a word?)

Anyway, there it is. I have to admit, I had a lot of fun with this. I wielded the sword of discipline and didn't allow myself many days of laziness. I had it in my head that this sucker was going to see 50,000 words by month's end, no matter what.

For those still reading (about me bragging about my little accomplishment), here's what the 'Winner's Page' had to say:

YOU'VE WON!

Dear Novelist,

You did it.

Despite everything else going on in your busy life, you managed to pull off the creative coup of writing a 50,000-word novel in just one month.

When the going got tough, you got typing, and in four weeks, you built vast worlds and set them in motion. You created characters; quirky, interesting, passionate souls with lives and loves and ambitions as great as yours. You stuck it out through the notoriously difficult middle stretch, and pressed onward as 80% of your fellow writers dropped out around you.

And now look at you: A NaNoWriMo winner. And the owner of a brand-new, potential-filled manuscript. It's an amazing accomplishment, and we're proud to have had you writing with us this year.

Anyway. I'm definitely doing this again next year. I've decided that I'm going to use those 'not-quite-good-enough' ideas and see if I can't force some life into them every November. I think there's some value to doing this, even if I don't intend to ever do a thing with my book.

So, 'Gawkers' your future is unknown. I do plan to finish the book, but short of that, I'm going to revisit my last novel, get it all nice and tidy and start marketing the heck out of it.

And then...finally, at long last, I will finish Book 3 in my 10 book series. Oh yes, it will be done.

Half-way Point

As the half-way point of NaNoWriMo comes hurtling over the horizon, I'm pleased to announce that I'm just a little ahead of the curve.

I've got 25,000 (or so) words written out of 50,000.

Does the book stink? Pretty much.

Am I going to finish it? Heck yeah.

50,000 words will do it? Don't think so.

I hate to say it, but I think this thing is going to clock in at around 75,000 words or so. I think I've definitely hit the big arc where stuff starts fitting together in Gawkers, but I think I sort of carved out a big shell and filled it with a bunch of characters that I like and think will develop even more as this thing keeps going.

So, yeah. I think I'll reach the goal, but I sort of want to keep going and try to truly finish the whole thing in the next 15 days. Possible? Perhaps.

Obstacles:

- Fire & EMT calls. Still gotta save lives, NaNoWriMo or not.
- New TV. Bad month to buy the big 60" TV. I've been mostly ignoring it. Mostly.
- Kid. In all fairness, I've only been working on this book while the wife and little guy are in bed. Even so, if I had a good solid weekend to myself I think I could kick this thing out lickety-split.
- Thanksgiving. Of course, I'll be traveling a little bit for the lamest of all holidays.

Still, I'm optimistic.

More than anything, I'm excited to edit my recently completed shorter novel The Short Bus Journal. It's slated for edits and queries next month. After that? I'm going to complete the long-delayed mysterious Book 3 in my series.

Got to keep this momentum up. It makes me sleep better at night knowing I'm writing more in these last 6 months than I have in a long, long time.

It's good to be back.

Side note: Still no word on the 4 short kids stories I sent off. I suspect I'll hear something from my editor by month's end. Maybe she'll like 'em...maybe not. Time will tell.

Until then...I've got crap to write.

Day One

Well, it's almost the end of Day One of NaNoWriMo. I didn't get started until almost 9:00pm tonight, and I just wrapped up my first effort a little over a half hour ago.

Just to remind those to lazy to click the link. I'm supposed to write 50,000 words in 30 days. If you do the math, that works out to roughly 1,667 words a day.

I got 2,433 down. If I keep that up, I'll be finished in no time.

Anyway, here's a link to my profile on the NaNoWriMo site. You know, in case you want to see what I'm up to or to cheer me on.

Also, I finished my 3rd book yesterday afternoon. That was my goal. I wanted to have the rough draft done and done so that I could focus all my extra energy on this crazy novel-writing month thing-a-ma-jig I've got going.

I figure I'll let my peeps read the rough draft, see what they think and do a nice read-through in December once I'm worn out from writing my one-month novel.

Oh, did I mention that I'm not writing a kid's book for the NaNoWriMo thing? Nope. I'm taking an idea I had around 5 years ago and giving it one last chance to see the light of day. It's a suspense/mystery type of story, but not in the usual vein. You know how most of those kinds of books have the dashing and cooler-than-thou detective or homicide cop out there looking for the killer? Well, my main character isn't all that cool. In fact, he's kind of a puke. By the end of the book, you're not going to know if you like the guy or if you hate him. Heck, the reader might even sympathize with the serial killer.

Yeah. Nothing like taking a genre and twisting it up a little, eh?

Anyway, it's called 'Gawkers' and if all goes well, there'll be a rough draft done by December 1st. Here's to hoping...