We all have quirks, our own neurosis, tics and flaws.
Without them I'd have nothing to write about.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I (sort of) WROTE (a rough draft of) A NOVEL (unfinished)!!

On a bit of a whim - which is how I tend to do most things - I decided at the end of October to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't like guessing at acronyms, that's one for National Novel Writing Month. Admittedly, before October, I didn't even know there was a NaNoWriMo. If you had asked me what it was, I may have even said "I don't care," and just walked away. Which is exactly what my husband did when I first asked him (he wasn't trying to be mean, my timing was just really bad).

Anyway, the goal is to write the first draft of a novel, the equivalent of 50,000 words, in November. I started the month thinking that I would be happy with half of that. But now I'm at 50,248 words. I won!! And in NaNoWriMo terms that means getting access to this cool button!!

Okay, at least it's not nothing.

The story isn't done and it needs a lot of editing, but here's an exerpt:
I spent the next couple of days in my room, by myself, allowing myself some self-pity, but I knew that it would be short-lived. I tried to call Peter a few times, but got the maid, who promptly hung up. Once I got his mother, who snorted before hanging up. I think I heard her say 'trollop' before she hung up. I heard the phone ring a few times, and I knew it was Peter. I think I found that I was glad when my mother or father hung up, as I was not prepared to have a conversation with him yet.

Did I mention the story isn't done and needs a lot of editing? Keep in mind that the purpose was just to get the free-flowing words out on paper. And that there was some alone time and hanging up involved.

By the way: That husband who was grumpy at the top of this post? He spent a lot of evenings putting the kids to bed solo. Not always an easy task in our house. And he was amazingly supportive. He's even started researching for me. He's the coolest and I couldn't have done it without him. Also, he's never online and not on Facebook, so I can say things like this without him getting embarrassed.

Is December NaTerNoEdMo? (National Terrible Novel Editing Month?)