NaNoWriMo 2009 - Day One

As I've mentioned previously here, I've decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo). The idea is that one sets out to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. It doesn't have to be perfect (indeed, how could it be?) - you're just trying to get the first draft done. I don't know if I'll actually have the whole month (I may have to revise my last submission before the end of November), but until then, it seems like a good way to jump-start a new project after a very busy summer and our trip to Italy.

So, I want to write 50,000 words in 30 days. According to my calculations, that's 1,667 words per day. Based on the font I use and my lean style, I get about 215 words per page, so that's about 8 pages a day.

Frankly, I'm surprised it's that little. That's a short scene for me. A short scene a day is certainly do-able. Indeed, I could probably aim for more.

However, I'm also still working on uploading pictures from my trip on my website (just did Assisi last night), getting back on track with exercise, crocheting projects for new babies, a baby shower I'm co-hosting, and (I hope) learning to bake sourdough bread, so for now, I'll stick with a goal of eight pages a day - but I'll make that a minimum and aim to do more, so if I do have to miss a day, I'll be ahead.

What am I working on? Well, I decided to do something totally different from my usual, a project about a character that's been hovering on the edge of my mind for eight years.

Yep, you read that right. Eight years.

I don't know if anything will come of it, but I figure, what the heck. I'm in wait-for-revision mode, so I don't really want to start the sequel to that book, so I might as well play. Yesterday, I went back through the synopses (turned out I had two), picked what I thought were the best plot points, and wrote out my file card outline.

I had a chapter written, but it's eight years old, so this morning, I've been rewriting it, from scratch. I've kept some of the material, but have cut more.

Word count so far today: 1508.

Now I'm taking a break for a walk, but will do more later. I'm hoping for 2,000 words today, and getting to the end of the old material, so I'll be onto new territory tomorrow.

ETA: Final word count for the day - 2,893. Walked for two hours, too. Now off to work on our photos from the trip.