Well, that was a productive night! I’m still wa-ay behind on my NaNo project, but I made serious progress during last night’s overnight. Cranked out 4006 words in a single sitting and passed the 30k mark. Actually, there were several sittings, with frequent coffee breaks and addressing resident concerns throughout the night, but at least I avoided the temptation of TV and minesweeper! Okay, so I might’ve played a game of minesweeper, and another of Mahjong Tiles. Sue me. Point is, I’ve gotten closer to being caught up. And since the day’s not over yet, I still have a little more time to crank out some more verbiage. I might even get out another 1,000 words before I have to put it up for the day.
Naturally, we’re going on vacation for Thanksgiving, so we won’t have any time to pack, deliver boy scout popcorn or girl scout cookies, or put the tractor away after today, since we’re leaving pretty much as soon as I get home tomorrow. And finding time to write while with family will be touchy, at best. I’m thinking I might just keep a notepad handy for those few moments I can grab here or there where it won’t look like I’m totally ditching the fam to selfishly indulge my “hobby.”
That’s the one thing about NaNo I don’t quite get. Why do this in November? Why not January, when nothing is happening? Is it because NaJa just doesn’t sound as cool as NaNo? Or is it that the organizers just happened to pick November, and decided to keep it that way because holidays are a fact of life that we all have to work around? That’s probably the case, and I’m being whiny. Thousands of people take the NaNo challenge each year and succeed. This will be the first time I succeed, and just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. And yes, I will succeed, because even though I’ve only got another day till we leave for the holiday, it’s still an overnight where I can crank out 4-5K words, and after this I’ve got two more at the end of the month before we reach the 30th. If I can get to 40K by the end of the week, I’ll clear the hurdle with room to spare.
At any rate, I’ve retitled the novel, Spilled Milk. It fits within the same meme as Jefferson’s Road, but the story line really is all its own. It’s less a political dystopian thriller than it is a subversive thriller. Although my anti-hero, Gerrold Smith, does hate the government for its intrusion into his life, he doesn’t have the philosophical education or background that helps motivate someone like Peter Baird. Gerry is just motivated out of a misguided passion for his children. It’s really his grief over his wife’s death that drives him over the edge, though he hasn’t realized it just yet.
I thought up an ending for it this morning. Can’t say that it ends on a high note, but it does feel like a necessary consequence–maybe the only kind that can be genuinely satisfying. I don’t know how long this book will wind up being, but I’m interested enough in seeing it through to the end. I think once it’s done (and edited), I’ll go ahead and release it on Smashwords and Amazon for $.99, but I don’t expect to format it for print. Unless there’s a serious demand for it, that is. I’m not planning on pushing it overmuch though.
All right. ‘Nuff chit-chat. I gotta get back to work!
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They say third time is the charm, and it certainly has been for me. As of four o’clock yesterday afternoon, I surpassed fifty thousand words in only twenty-nine days. The story isn’t done just yet – I’m still writing – which is why I haven’t “validated” my win just yet. I want to get more of the story told before hitting the button. But as far as word count is concerned: I’ve now broken all my previous land-speed records.