November has arrived, and it somehow still feels like autumn has barely begun. But, as has been tradition around here for… 4 years, November means it’s time for National Novel Writing Month!

I’ve been relatively busy with being a dad and all, so it should come as a surprise to no one that I haven’t prepared in the slightest.

It’s difficult for me to imagine writing the required 1,667 words per day to hit 50,000 for NaNo this year. I have trouble finding time to write most days.

However, last night I managed to churn out about 700 words, the most in a single sitting I’ve written in a couple of weeks. I also had to stay up until 2:30am to do it, so that’s not ideal.

That aside, I’d like to commit myself to writing something this NaNo. I haven’t been able to reach my standard goal of 20,000 words per month. I haven’t even sniffed that.

So, I might as well try for that.

20,000 Words Under My Infant Son’s Nose!

That doesn’t quite have the ring I’d hoped.

Building the Mythology

My Mythology stories are nearly complete, mostly due to my writing spurt last night. I hit a snag this week that stopped my progress for a few days.

I had a vivid image of how I wanted this series of stories to end, but actually coming to the moment was difficult. I wanted the key scene to feel climactic, a little surprising, but also not completely out of the blue.

Lats night, I finally powered through and wrote what is probably is an okay scene. I need to go back and re-read it to ensure that there’s a logical progression, but I think all the pieces are there.

My editor has the first six of these stories already, so I’m hoping to have those reviewed and revised by the end of the year. The second half can wait a bit longer, but not much.

There is still one piece I haven’t fully committed to, and that’s the title card for these stories. I have a couple concepts in mind, I should have the money, and I even have a draft job posting on Upwork to find an artist.

I just haven’t completed and submitted that post. Part of me is worried that I was being too prescriptive with my job posting, but I kind of already know what I want. It’s just difficult for me to talk about the style of an illustration. I can’t really distinguish artistic styles.

Not anime but also not Renaissance? Is that a style?

Anyway, this weekend may be a good time to post that job, since I’ll have some time to sift through candidates and hopefully find a good fit.

Goals for 11/9

1. Write 5,000 words for NaNoWriMo
2. Post the job for my title card illustration on Upwork
3. Don’t stay up until 2:30am when I have to work the next morning

Steve D