I've been planning to write, once retired - in another 6 months to 2 years, depending on how the financials work out.
Meanwhile, I kept up my blogs. And, occasionally, started writing books.
I'd never gotten past a few chapters. Life would intervene, and I'd put another one aside - just for a while, you understand.
This year, in October, I decided to try writing in National Novel Writing Month. It starts November 1st, and runs until November 30th, at midnight. The idea is to write 50,000 words in a single month.
It sounded crazy to me at first. And, to be honest, kind of impossible.
But, I blocked out a sketchy outline, and, on November 1st, started writing.
I've just updated my wordcount, and I'm at 36,194 words at of 11:30 today. I still have time to add to the count before the end of the day (I'm probably going to make some notes offline after dinner, and get back to writing once I return to the motel). I just have to keep adding 1973 words a day until the end, and I can do it.
It's going to be rough. On Friday, we'll be at my sister-in-law's - she has very limited internet. Saturday, we'll be on the road back to SC. If we stretch the trip out to 2 days, I can possibly continue writing at the motel Saturday night.
But, I am hopeful. Even if I fail to make goal, I've written the framework for an actual book, and can add to, revise, and complete it over the next 6 months or so. The beauty of this month-long push is that it accustoms you to writing a LOT - I reached the point that I think of 2000 words as not a big deal. Previously, it had been a stretch to write 500 words in the same time.
I've also learned a lot about structuring a novel, writing dialogue, and developing characters.
If you want to test this process out, here is the link.
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