It’s been a while since I updated my website or wrote in my blog. Needless to say, life has been crazy. My drafting and redrafting of “The Lightning Knight” took longer than I expected, but I hope that when all is said and done, it’ll be the story I always wanted to write.

Speaking of “The Lightning Knight”, it’s currently with my editor and I’m hoping to get those edits back and fixed up for final editing and subsequent publishing. Publishing will be a whole other beast I’ll tackle in other posts.

Instead, I’ll talk about my first ever NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). NaNoWriMo is an organization that supports and encourages writers to write during the month of November (they have other activities throughout the year as well, but November is the big kahuna). I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo before, but this year was different for me.

Beyond the fact that 2020 has been a dumpster-fire in a myriad of ways, a coincidence of events set me up for NaNoWriMo and I couldn’t have been happier about it. I had just finished my first novel, “The Lightning Knight” for its second round of edits in mid-October. Once I submitted it, I felt a huge sense of loss and disorientation. For years, months, weeks, days and increasingly hours, I had poured a lot of my mental and physical energy into drafting, redrafting and editing “The Lightning Knight”. I’d become so imbedded into that story, once it was gone from me, I didn’t know what to do. Previously, my free time would be spent working or thinking of that book and now I was lost.

Then I saw NaNoWriMo was upon us and like every other year, I decided it wasn’t for me. I like to write on my own time, with my own strategy. But I kept seeing other writers on twitter gearing up for the annual sprint, and I figured I would try it out. At the very least, maybe it would give me a sense of direction and fill the “writing” void I had.

And boys and girls (and non-gender binary folks), was I ever glad i did. My second book, “The Windrunner” was always something I had in my mind, but I kept waiting until my first book was completed. Instead of waiting until the final, polished product, I decided to dive right into “The Windrunner”, and it has been exciting to say the least. Almost as exciting as when I did my first draft of “The Lightning Knight”.

There’s something about writing for me, not the process or the editing, but the actual writing that is very intoxicating. It’s like watching a movie play in my head and then putting it to digital paper. While I know where I need to go, how I get there with my characters and stories is typically new to me, and very exciting.

That’s why I’m so excited about NaNoWriMo. Not only is it a way to help me track and be held accountable (with the lowest of low stakes), but it’s given me the kick in the butt to get into the part of writing I love: discovering.

My goal for November is 50,000 words, which would put me at about 1/3-1/4th of my first book. Even if I don’t hit it, or if I blow past it, getting back into the daily motion of writing and discovering will have been worth it.

If you ever wanted to write, NaNoWriMo is a great opportunity to help push you over the hump.

Because the key to writing is actually pretty simple: you just have to write.