Nanowrimo Complete, Now on With the Novel

This is a point I reach every time I participate in National Novel Writing Month.  A lot of emphasis is put on wordcount in November…people fret and fume about being “behind” or “not reaching the daily quota”.  Ulcers are born.  Hair is lost.  I try not to pay too much attention to it, but it’s there, hanging over my shoulder, just the same.  That’s why, as usual, I over-achieved and got that first fifty thousand words out of the way as quickly as possible.  Now I’m on comfortable, familiar ground.  I have a novel to write.

I’m twenty-three chapters in.  I have fourteen chapters left.  I know what has happened.  I know the weaker spots (and with the help of those registered to read along and join me on the journey, I’ll no doubt find more).  I know where the book is going, and roughly how it is going to get there. I will continue writing, and I suspect I’ll get a lot more words written in November, because it’s not about Nanowrimo as much as it is about finishing a new book – knowing I’ve gotten another story out of me and that I’ll be able to share it with readers.  This is book II in a series.  Book one will come out very shortly – in December – and I know that how this book I’m writing is received will hinge in many ways on how that first book does.  More stress I could do without.

I’ve also begun revising another novel in odd moments … “The Path of the Meteor,” the only vampire novel I’ve ever written that isn’t yet published.  I blame this on three things.  1) I wrote it a very long time ago, and I’m a lot better now.  2) An editor long ago convinced me to try and revise the first person into third person, and it did not go well.   3) I have been too lazy to fix it.  The only one of those three I can remedy is the last, and so…onward.

I am oddly optimistic going into the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010.  I have four books scheduled for publication, Vintage Soul in December, Stargate Atlantis: Brimstone – in February of 2010, and if the publisher comes through as he has promised, I’m guessing my novels Maelstrom and Sins of the Flash will see release this coming year as well. That’s a lot of work out there at once, and it gives me a chance to widen my readership considerably.

It also inspires me to pound the keys – as does Nanowrimo and all the positive energy I gather from fellow participants, readers, and the accomplishment of reaching that 50k goal.

So this is a pretty good day, writing wise.  I’m moving forward, smiling into the face of deadlines and a new year.  I say bring it…

Now, on to the next fourteen chapters…

-DNW