Yesterday started National Novel Writing Month, a crazy, fun-filled thirty days where writers, from newbies to multi-decade vets, plan to write a 50,000-word novel. Some succeed; some don't. In the end, it's really a question of learning to push your limits.
In my case, it's a question of learning how to pants. In other words, trusting my subconscious instead of planning every minute detail. (In case, you haven't figured it out, I'm an A++ personality. LOL)
On top of practicing my pantsing, I'm working on juggling the various elements of being a publisher. To that end, I need to get my daily word count in for
Ravaged, which is Book 7 of the Bloodlines series and my NaNo project for 2015.
On top of that, I'm still proofing the print copies of
Blood Magick and
Zombie Love, waiting for my beta reader to get back to me about
A Question of Balance, approving the e-book cover of
A Question of Balance, send out prizes for a blog contest for Alter Ego, work on
Zombie Goddess (which is worked on AFTER the daily word count of
Ravaged) because it needs to released first, and squeeze in a few words on
Sacrificed while waiting in line to pick up Genius Kid from school.
And that last one brings me to another observation. Some writers think they can only write in the perfect room at the perfect temperature, wearing the perfect clothes, sipping the perfect drink and nibbling the perfect chocolate.
Um, no. That's actually a good way to fuck yourself up as a writer.
I'm currently writing
Sacrificed on the note function of my ancient iPhone 4 during the five to ten minutes I'm sitting in the car pick-line of the local high school. I can't focus for two hours with my tea like I prefer. Yet, I've written around 5K in those few minutes four-five days a week since school started around August 15th.
So even if the idea of writing 50K in thirty days freaks you out, remember there are other ways of working toward your goal.
