For the few who don’t know what National Novel Writing Month is (NaNoWriMo for short), it’s a writing marathon where the challengers strive to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. That is 1,667 words a day — a feat for some, an easy slog for others.
I’ve “won” it once, and participated four times. I plan to try again this year under the handle ywalker. If you sign up, make me your buddy! I’ve written a thriller (which made it onto Kindle Vella!) and I started my other Kindle Vella but didn’t finish. I also have a fantasy time portal story that I started and a dog murder mystery that I also started.
The thing about NaNoWriMo is to start a NEW story. So, to be true to the spirit of the thing, I can’t take these old ideas and continue them. But what I CAN do is to start the second book in the Linda Radcliffe series. Linda is a journalist caught up in her past coverage of a serial killer and the present scandal and mystery in that same small town. She’s a great heroine, and I can’t wait to see what mystery thriller she finds herself in next.
The reason I’ve only won it once is that I’m a self-editor. It’s hard for me just to let the words flow and to go back and edit after the month is over. That’s really the only way to finish NaNoWriMo strong. Every year I tell myself this and every year I let doubt that the desire to “fix” everything drag me down. How about you?
So, we’ll see what happens this year.
Have you been enjoying my short fiction every two weeks? Would you like more or fewer stories? More or less frequency? Take these short polls and let me know what you would like to read!