November 1st was the start of the 2019 National Novel Writing Month challenge. I have done this challenge annually since 2012 when Kelly told me I needed to participate after she did it in 2011. Seven of my eighteen novels had their origin as NaNo novels. I like the challenge of writing a novel in 30 days. I thrive on challenges like this.
This year I have a second novel that I'm also continuing writing through November. I started writing it a week before November 1st and had about 20,000 words written.
I got off to a great start since I was on vacation the first three days of the month. I've managed to keep up the momentum the past two nights after work, but am starting to feel a little blurry-brained trying to write both novels simultaneously. If I can't keep up with it, then the first one will have to wait until December so I can finish the official NaNo novel, Spindrift.
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a chat over coffee with an author I recently met, Richard Wayne Horton. Richard read from his book, Artists in the Underworld, at the October 19th edition of Ghost Stories Live! in downtown Westfield, MA. Kelly and I both read new stories at the event. I had picked up Richard's book about two weeks prior to Ghost Stories Live and hade been reading it, so was looking forward to hearing him read his own work. To hear an author read their own work is to really understand their voice, their thoughts, and what they are saying to you, the reader/listener.
I was also excited to find out today that author friend, Melissa Volker, is preparing for publication a Christmas story/fable written by her late father many years ago. Melissa also designs fabulous book covers. She's extremely creative and talented, and an exceptional writer in her own right. I'm looking forward to reading her father's story, anxious to hear his voice. It'll be interesting for me, at least, to compare his voice and hers. I do this with my work and Kelly's. She has her own unique voice, yet some of the things she writes surprisingly mirror what I'm writing. It's as f our brains are in sync, but we have two voices, two very different ways of telling the story.
For the past year I've been doing far more drawing than writing. I took a break and had some fun doing something else I love doing, but now it's time to get back into writing. I'm happiest when I'm spending time with my author friends and writing stories that often take on a life of their own. I'm just the medium through which these stories are told. I am, basically, my muse's typist.
Special thanks tonight to my surrogate Mom, the woman who "adopted" me after a Tom Deady (Massachusetts' Bram Stoker Award winner for his novel Haven) book signing about two years ago. She gave me a call and got me laughing. Laughter truly is good medicine!
Midnight has tolled...my pillow is calling to me...to sleep, to dream...goodnight!
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