Prepping for next month

Ah, that crisp clip in the air (or so I’m told by folks back east). The overwhelming scent of pumpkin, cinammon, and all manner of spice saturating stores. The knowledge that in less than a week, I shall give up the ways of civilized man, cast aside my razor, and go native. It can mean only one thing my friends – it’s time for our annual NanoWriMo!

You may be wondering how I plan on participating if I’ve already started a novel. Wonder no more! As is often the case, I tend to spend the first 20k or so of a writing project exploring the voices of the characters, who they are, what they want, what they are facing. Some writers do complicated character sheets and plot outlines. Me? I write the first 20k or so of a novel to see where its going, what story it wants to be, and then take a breather. Sometimes I plod ahead and just make notes. Sometimes I start over, using the first draft as a guide (and then write until I drop).

For the sake of NanoWriMo, I’m doing the latter. I will be starting over on Chrysalis, using what I’ve discovered so far as a guidemap. My goal is to do more than the required 50k – it seems only fair given the initial note draft I have.

Because I will be focussing on that 1,667 words a day minimum, blogging will probably be back down to “less than frequent.” I will probably post status updates, and may squeeze in a few posts about workflows, process, etc., but for the most part I plan on keeping my head down and my fingers tapping.

And of course, as I do every time I take part in NanoWriMo, I will have my last shave on Halloween, and will not shave again until this novel is done. I may not shave after, either, but that’s a decision that can be made later. I realize this also coincides with Movember, a time for raising awareness of men’s health issues, typically by growing a mustache/beard. While I may accept the facial hair growth for both, the real reason, between you and me, is I’m trying to save time from shaving to add those extra few words to the opus maximus. And for Movember, I guess.