The last time I did NaNo was in 2008. I finished the 50,000 words with some extra on top and this year I have decided to take the challenge again. I’ll be honest with the fact that I have major writer’s block. Not just a little writer’s block either, but something amounting to the Great Wall of China. After the total decimation of the writer’s group I was involved in, getting back in the swing of things has been hard. Without going into details, there was a major feeling of betrayal and something like that takes time in getting over. Another result of that is I’ve felt the need to purge myself of anything that came out of that group -including my completed novel and the subsequent sequels that were to go along with it – because in my mind it has been contaminated – it is dripping with viscous black poison for which there is no antidote.
So, after that lovely image and a lot of thought on my part, I decided that diving into NaNo with a fresh idea would be just the thing to help me scale that wall. I have a novella length sci-fi story that I’ve been hammering out in my mind for a couple of weeks now. Sci-fi is different for me since I’m usually a fantasy girl – both in writing and reading, but I think I need the challenge. I also specifically decided to do a novella since the length will allow me to complete the entire story arc in 50,000 words – which is long for a completed novella, but good for a first draft. I also intend to go through the editing process after NaNo is over. Novellas are hard (i.e. impossible) to sell, but that’s not actually the point of this exercise for me.
So, Good Luck to myself and good luck to anyone reading this who is also doing NaNo!
Domestic Adventures 