Well its 10:30 on day 1 of NaNoWriMo. I didn't start last night at midnight, I waited until 9am this morning. I wrote on and off for the majority of the day as my novel began to flesh itself out in my mind.
Some characters were more present than others, but the eventually all came out of the woodwork and are starting to play nicely together. I am pleased with word count for today, managed 13, 246 which I think is a pretty good start. I can only hope to keep up the pace as the days turn into weeks.
I do have to say that working on a novel is hard work, hard enough for 3 days, but somehow having 30 days to do one is seeming harder. In a 3 Day contest you know that you only have 3 days to write, so you do so much prep work (at least I do) and when it turns to 12:01 you blast off to write all the stuff that has been percolating in your head for so long. By the time you press save at the end of the 3rd day, you are exhausted physically, but perhaps more important, mentally and all of your ideas are explored and spent.
Doing this for 30 days is so much more than achieving a 50,000 word count, although please don't take that to mean I am understimating the importance of that, nor the significance of achieving that monumental goal. Most people never write anything more than a cheque once they are out of school, so doing 50,000 words is an incredible feat, one to be proud of.
For me however, it isn't the word count that will be as much of a challenge as to continue my story in such a way that it flows, ebbs and weaves together in a way that is pleasing while ensuring I get from A to B having said what I wanted to say and exploring what I wanted to explore. I am finding some great tie ins between characters and have them pretty much fleshed out. It is now the challenge of getting from B to C that will carry me through the next little while.
This story is going to be so much bigger than anything I have done before and I'm excited but more than a wee bit nervous about how I am going to get there, if I have a story large enough, detailed enough, crafted enough to get me to the finish. Well its' all up to me and while I feel I could keep on typing for another hour or so, I am going to log off and go to bed.
Tomorrow is another day, so is the one after that and then the next 27 to work on this. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will this novel. Remember the tortoise and the hare? I'm officially taking off my ears and putting on a shell.
Until tomorrow...
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