A NaNo-ing We'll Go

Guess what's coming up?

Yes, Halloween. I mean after that.

Thanksgiving? You've gone a tad too far.

I'll give you a hint: It starts on Friday.

That's right, it's NaNo Time! Most of you have been around and are familiar with NaNo and what it means. For those who are scratching your heads, I'll give you the condensed explanation.

NaNoWriMo (often shortened to NaNo) stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place every November with participants working towards a goal of 50,000 words (the word count of a short novel) by the end of the month. Winners get bragging rights, certificates and cool badges to display on social media and make their friends jealous. Winning also brings with it prizes from other sponsors (CreateSpace & Scrivner) as well as the beginnings for a future published novel.

I've participated in NaNo three years (this will be my fourth!) and twice in its summertime sibling Camp NaNo. Every time I've managed to get out 50,000 words, although there have been a couple close calls. For my efforts, I have a hard drive full of manuscripts waiting to find their way into the world. Some have come close, but none have quite broken free.

Last year during NaNo, I decided to do something different. With a couple incomplete stories hanging around, I chose to do a Finishing Month rather than a Writing Month. I just kept whatever I wrote during November separate from what I previously wrote, still accomplishing a total of 50k words. Looks like I'll be doing something similar this year.

Sitting on the back burner of my writing drive are two manuscripts waiting for an ending. This just may be their month. One is a detective story set in the 1920s. I started working on that with my husband, but put it aside for other things. I think it's time for Detective Jane Cassidy to get some more action.

Slightly less forgotten is the follow-up to MOTHER OF MONSTERS, PROMETHEUS' LANTERN. With the story half written and a good idea of where it's going, Maya and her friends are ready to kick Hera's butt. Again.

Something new for this year is the widget on my blog. If I can point your attention over the the upper right-hand corner, you'll see a lovely calender. It will be tracking my progress for the month. Feel free to yell at me if you see my numbers slipping.

Now I have today and tomorrow to finish getting ready. The characters are itching to get started.

Who else is ready?