NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, which just happens to be November. It is a challenge to write a novel of 50,000 words or more during the 30 days of the month. This is the first time I've attempted the challenge and so far I'm pretty happy with how it is going. I'm almost at 45,000 words and still have a ways to go before the story reaches its logical conclusion. AND I like my story!





The key to being able to write, on average, 1667 words a day is to retire your "internal editor" for the month. Some people drew what they felt like their editor looked like and then burned it, or wadded it up and gave it to their cat to bat around, or banished it in some other way. I locked mine in a cat carrier and told her I would let her out to play on December 1 or whenever I actually finished the novel. She has moaned and groaned, but so far has behaved herself and stayed locked away.





The title of my book is Out of the Past . . . (yes, including the ellipses). Imagine what it would be like to visit a city you have never been before and recognize landmarks, feel a sense of familiarity, and "know" the people the tour guides tell you about. Imagine standing on a porch and feeling a sense of first belonging, and then, suddenly, a sense of overwhelming terror and the need to escape that porch. This is basically what happens to my protaganist and the story is how she comes to understand these feelings and learn what to do with them. I hope, once the book is finished, to publish a chapter at a time on my website (http://www.glendapoulter.com/) and I also hope to submit it for publication. Here is the cover I designed for the book. And, yes, I did take this picture.

Speaking of my website, my webmistress will be working on simplifying it over the next few days. So, if you go to visit and pages aren't working properly, please be patient and try again later.