www.inkthinkerblog.com — In a fit of creative bravado, I signed up for National Novel Writing Month this year. Although I’m on track with my word count (3,700 at the moment), I’m still not entirely sure what I’m writing about. This became abundantly clear to me last night at the Richmond-area kickoff party, when I gave a different answer to everyone who asked me to tell them about my novel. Here’s what I ended up deciding on for my NaNo profile page, subject to revision:
Kaylee Marsh is a college junior who knows what she wants in life. That’s the only reason she can manage her 18-credit course load and three part-time jobs. But when her younger brother dies back home, the bottom falls out of Kaylee’s world and she has to figure out what’s really important.
To anyone who knows me, it’s obviously an autobiographical novel. I don’t usually recommend that format for most writers because they are too in love with their words to understand the need for revision or why their brain dump is not immediately publishable. But I’ve been needing to write about my brother’s death for some time now, and I think this will give me a means to do it while still enabling me to distance myself from it.
But who knows. I’m expecting this bad boy to evolve over the next month, and I’m looking forward to it with a mix of apprehension and excitement. It’s been a long time since I’ve made time each day to write something for myself, so regardless of how the month ends, I think this is going to be an invaluable process and experience.
Are you NaNo-ing this year? How’s it going as of Day 2? Leave a comment sharing something about your book or your experience thus far.
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I’m attempting to NaNo, but I haven’t even started yet. Good luck with your story and the (hopefully) carthartic process. All of my personal writing has some autobiographical nuances, but I think that’s probably true of almost everyone.
.-= IrreverentFreelancer´s last blog ..The Ultimate Get-a-Clue Freelance Request for the Week of November 2, 2009 =-.
I signed up for NaNoWriMo, but I haven’t sat down to write yet. I’m hoping to do that tonight, but like you, I don’t really know what my novel is going to be about. I do know there will be some semi-autobiographical elements in it, but I haven’t put anything about the novel on my NaNo page. I’m just going to dive in and see what happens.
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Trick or treat? =-.
How is it going? I wrote over 3000 words yesterday, today I’m still at 600+ and I really don’t know what to write next :-D I just read my writing blog about this subject last year, and noticed the exact same problem. :-D
I’m sorry to hear about your brother’s death.
.-= Ketutar´s last blog ..I don’t want to go to the doctor… =-.
As you know, I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year. This time is the game changer. I’m already at a good pace and I’ve got more encouragement than for the past two attempts. I’ll be here to nudge you as well. Be sure to ping my blog for a few posts about NaNoWriMo as I make it through the month.
I’ll keep an eye out here for yours.
Cheers and be sure to share the great plot ideas you get.
Todd aka tojosan
.-= Todd Jordan´s last blog ..NaNoWriMo November 1st Kickoff – St. Louis =-.
I’m in my third (or fourth?) Nano. So far, I’m well ahead of any other year. I have a great start and a clear path to the end, so I think I may actually finish this year.
.-= Lori´s last blog ..Why Content Mills Have That Reputation =-.
I’m participating in NaNo (I added you to my buddy list a second ago), and I’m off to a decent start. I tweet/blog about it frequently, and have thought about self-publishing my efforts once they’ve gone through a GIANT edit. :) I’m thinking about staying motivated by attending a local write-in, too, but we’ll see how that goes.
I’m on my third NaNo and this year I’m actually writing more and not editing it as I go. I’ve only got a bit over 6500 words so far, but that’s more than I’ve ever gotten.
.-= Kathryn Pless´s last blog ..Video about NaNoWriMo =-.