After much thought, I decided not to compete this year. It was not a hard decision since I am editing one I wrote in an earlier competition.

The year I wrote this work was the first time I did the challenge. It was an eye-opening experience for this novice writer. It required writing 1667 words a day—every day of the month, including holidays!

Did you note I said |”novice writer?” I had dabbled in writing a novel, but not one with a deadline hanging over me. So, how did it go?

The first few days were very challenging. I started with the names for the principal characters and some key story points (I didn’t outline.) Not only must I envision the story, but I had to type it into Microsoft Word.

I am not a hunt and peck typist, but I don’t burn up the keys either. My typing speed while creating the story might have averaged ten words a minute. Time dedicated to typing was between 2.5 to three hours each day.

What came of it? I called it a disaster when I reread what I wrote. It loosely hung on a plotline but met the word goal to win the challenge.

The following is the first few paragraphs of that story after significant rework.

#####

Saving Siden (Working title)

The Goddess Kiliane found Goddess Mira relaxing in her palace’s main room. A tapestry hung behind her, which showed a pack of wolves serenading the moon. “Come with me tomorrow to get my gown,” Kiliane said, dropping into the chair across from her.

“I think I will stay here. I don’t enjoy being around humans,” she said, pushing errant strands of her honey-blond hair behind her ear.

Kiliane leaned forward. “You need to let the people you protect to see you, and I desire your company. Come with me; you might enjoy it.” She pressed until Mira agreed to go.

The next morning, Kiliane led her best friend through the Jihalla-Siden interdimensional gate onto Siden. They stood at the edge of an open-air market extending to their left. A road separated them and the market from a row of storefronts in two-story wood buildings.

Mira’s hands rubbed her bare arms.  “I should have stayed on Jihalla. It is cold here.”

She laughed while her friend, who wore a sleeveless silver gown, shivered in the early morning coolness. “You should have worn something warmer, but the temperature will rise soon.” Mira glared at Kiliane dressed in a long-sleeve shirt and pants.

Zudon had announced a banquet several weeks ago. He was hosting a celebration of the millennial anniversary of their awakening tomorrow night, and Kiliane needed her gown. Seamstress Amelia said it would be ready today.

The sound of ironshod wheels rumbling on the cobblestone road took their attention. Wagons passed in front of them filled with melons, corn, tomatoes, and more. At the east end of the market, farmers jockeyed their wagons into open-air market spaces.

Kiliane’s nose wrinkled at the odor of manure. She almost laughed at Mira, who was pinching hers shut.  She took a deep breath and smiled when the breeze shifted, and the smell of baking bread came to them.

#####

The graphic is something simple I created with Canva. I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. Let me know what you think of the image and if you would like to read more by using the comment form.

I encourage and appreciate likes and shares.

Be safe during this trying time.

Shelving this decision for a moment, I thought I would review my progress turning the 2016’s disaster into a novel.

The 2016 draft was a NANO win with its length of 50,250 words. This number of words didn’t survive the first read-through. I am a pantser, a writer working without a detailed outline. I couldn’t decide how to finish the story, so I wrote three different finishes. During the first revision, I cut two, reducing the word count to about 48,000 words.

I am on the sixth revision, about forty percent through. I started this one with a word count of about 49,100 words and comments from a beta reader and an editor. The editor guided improving the structure and content. The beta reader desired “more” detail.

I worked through the first thirteen chapters, finding places to add or expand scenes and, by edit, to excise unnecessary words. The word count still grew to 55,227 words at that point.

I face today whether to stop this revision and prepare to compete in NANOWRIMO—2020. The draft produced would finish the three-book series. The story would be on paper, well, on my computer.

I haven’t the luxury to delay the decision for long. 1 November 2020 is not so far away.

Will you take part in NANOWRIMO—2020? You can use the comment form to answer and I would like your reason for your decision.

Be safe during this trying time.

Going back in time

Walking back to 1975. I was a second class petty officer in the US Navy. The Navy sent me to attend Del Mar College to take an electronic engineering curriculum. Most of the classes were technical subjects, but I took creative writing as an elective.

Montage and creative writing

The course used a text book comprising a montage of pictures and snippets of text. I found the assignments, unlike any in my technical course or other electives. This course instructor said there was no correct answer to his assignments. Whatever one wrote, it would not be wrong. However, how it was presented was graded.

I wrote the required number of words about whatever I found on the assigned page. One assignment always cam to mind. I wrote about what a large red circular spot meant to me. It occupied the assigned page alone.  Forgive me, but I don’t remember if I described it as a drop of blood, a fall setting sun, or something else. The red spot I remembered.

Writing Non-Fiction

The final assignment was a paper on my favorite literary author. I selected Ray Bradbury. He wrote Fahrenheit 51,  Something Wicked This Way Comes, and others which I found enjoyable. I debated with my instructor he was a recognized literary author. He gave in with the caveat I had to convince him he was in my paper.

I didn’t have the internet to assist me. It wouldn’t be in its infancy for another twenty years.

Researching in a library

The library’s card catalog was a quick way to find a book by an author or on a subject. The catalog was a collection of index cards for books on its shelves, and provided the author, subject, title, and Dewey Decimal Classification number.  The Dewey Decimal number enabled quickly locating the work within the library shelves.

Another resource was compendiums for magazines and other periodicals. These cross-referenced articles by author and subject. The materials I used were available on microfiche. A microfiche reader was used to read the articles.

I spent uncounted hours in the library going from the card catalog to the shelves or microfiche. I read what was written and decided if it was material for my paper. References were scarce then, though Wikipedia has extensive material now.

Awaiting judgement

I collected my reference material and wrote, what I considered, a powerful position paper. Paper submitted,  Then the wait for the instructor’s comments. Success, I convinced him Ray Bradbury might not be mainstream, but was an acceptable subject for the assignment. His response was worth more to me than the grade of “A” I received.

Grade for my fiction

Now I revise the work from last year’s NANO and strive to make it something readers will give me an “A” for after reading it. Note: there is no prospective date for publication.

Did you write this NANO? Have a work you are revising? I would enjoy hearing about it. Use the comment form to share.

NANOWRIMO 2019 starts 1 November. I wrestle with competing this year. Interestingly, competing implies competition. Yes, It is a competition against oneself.

The competition is to write a novel of fifty thousand words in November, an average of 1667 words a day. Some days I might write more or less, such as during the holidays.

I participated twice, and both times met the goal.

Both times, I sprinted the last couple of days to reach the goal.

Taking the plunge

The first time I didn’t consider Thanksgiving. Losing one day might not sound like much, but I am not a great typist. I averaged, maybe, ten words a minute on a good day. So, a day’s writing was nearly three hours to put 1667 words on paper.

Shucks, only three hours. Yes, three hours if the vision for the story flowed from mind to paper in a steady stream. It didn’t always for me, I started and stopped as the story revealed. As a result, I spent longer with the keyboard the days after Thanksgiving.

The second time, it had little to do with the holiday. I was in the last couple of months working before retiring from my job. I started November strong, but as the holiday neared, I suffered a form of malaise, lack of motivation. Fortunately I found it again after Thanksgiving. The sprint to the end found me crossing fifty thousand words on the 30th.

Each time, I wrote with a vague outline. The key elements were just a sentence or two. From these, I had to build the story as I wrote. Challenging, very!

This year

I am starting early this year, laying out a foundation. I hope to have a good grasp of the story and where it will go before the 1st. It should make finding 1667 words a day (average) easier. I will let you know after 30 November.

Do you intend to take the NANOWRIMO challenge this year? A comment form is available for your convenience.

Musing, let see what is flitting at this moment.

I just finished bowling in the Monday Seniors League. Friday night in the Friday Early Birds I bowled a 728. The first 700 plus series in two years. I was concerned this morning that I would follow the exceptional (for me) series with a bummer series. Low and behold, I had a 641. Relief!

Someone came up to me during the league and made a comment about the Impeachment Inquiry. I try to minimize politics there and here. I listened and only added that I wished the House would leave him alone and get back to doing legislation to benefit Americans. Let the election next year decide whether President Trump should stay or go.

I lost an uncle recently. It made me think about everyone lost. My mother in 1996, my father in 2002, one brother in 2001 and the other in 2002, and my sister in 2011. All of my mother and father’s siblings are gone. So many to mourn.

I am considering taking part in NANOWRIMO this year. I skipped last year after taking part in the previous two years. It might be the break I need from the novel I am editing. Need to either commit and prep an outline or just jump in on November 1st. I would make faster progress with an outline.

Many other thoughts flit too fast to collect and relate here. They note computer processing speed in advertisements. Well, I contest none yet can match the human brain for speed.

Do you agree? Use the comment form to let me hear your opinion.

Writers of all genres and levels of experience took the challenge of writing fifty-thousand words in the thirty days of November.

Today, many of those writers are sitting before their computers or with pen in hand frantically writing in the effort to meet the challenge.

NANOWRIMO WEBSITE

The NANOWRIMO website has a tool to count the words written and judge success. The writer copies the words written from the computer file and pastes into the word counter. When the count is at or above fifty-thousand words, a winner’s certificate becomes available for download.

The winner’s certificate notes the winner’s name and the title of his work.

I didn’t take the NANOWRIMO challenge this month. Instead, I created my own challenge to finish the fourth revision of the work I wrote during the 2016 challenge.

I can create a winner’s certificate for my challenge and issue it to me. The fourth revision was completed on 28 November.

In 2016, NANOWRIMO suggested I spend December finishing the novel and getting it ready for publishing. Needless to say, I didn’t.

Use the comment form to let me know if you receive such an email from NANOWRIMO. You can use it to let me know if you plan to work your novel until published. Or was this just an effort to win the challenge?  

Kiliane’s Rage

I agreed to write Kiliane Rage during November. This would require me to write some 1,667 words a day average. I didn’t understand just what this would mean. When I took Thanksgiving off, it changed the workload to get back on schedule.

I successfully completed the challenge with over 50,000 words a day early.

The work was put aside for a week before going into edit mode. I probably should have waited longer because what I read almost destroyed December for me. I found I had several good scenes, but most were awful. There was duplicate material in several places and terrible description throughout.

I read through it twice before beginning the editing process with excising what was similar material from scenes. The result was the removal of several thousand words. Since I have gained back the lost words with better written scenes.

Last year, I agreed to the NANOWRIMO challenge. Again, I wrote a work that needs extensive editing. Now I have two interesting projects which allow me to alternate between them, and avoid becoming overly frustrated with either. When they are done, I will have a novel and a sequel.

No NANOWRIMO this year

This year, I am not taking the NANOWRIMO challenge. I considered it for a time since I have ideas for a sequel to the sequel. Why not get the sequel’s sequel written?

The reason is that I am a pantser. I don’t do detailed outlines. This results in works-in-progress needing a lot of tender loving care. I have two and adding another at this time is not something I want to do.

This may disappoint the diehard NANOWRIMO adherents, but this is right for me.

Are you doing NANO this year? I would love to hear why you are or are not taking the challenge this year.

You can use the comment form for this or tell me anything of interest to you.