We made it to November. Any other year it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal but this year, 2020, I feel like we should all get a gold medal for getting this far instead of the usual ribbon for participation.
I mean seriously, Covid 19, murder hornets, double digit number of hurricanes, I’m afraid to watch the news because I’m not sure we can take anything else. We all say 2020 is bad but then we have to remember that the world isn’t going to right itself on Jan 1st, 2021. We’re in this for the long haul.
I don’t know about you but I need Nano this year. Just to give me that outlet to get it all out on paper (or digital document). It’s therapeutic – even if I’m not actually writing about what’s happening in the world around me. The act of writing helps ground me.
This year there have been a lot of changes in my personal life beyond what’s happening in the world. In some ways it will make it easier to write and make my daily word count because I’m no longer full time. In other ways, not so much, as I watch a loved one’s health decline.
I’ve been writing most of the summer and have already embarked on a 5 novella series, with plans for an additional 3 novella continuation with relatives of characters we met in the first series. I hesitate to call them novels because each will be only 50-60,000 words. Quick reads that you can finish in an hour or two.
I’ve discovered how much I like reading books that build upon the characters met in previous stories, series that have been set in the same location or with friends of friends of the initial characters.
My Nano 2020 project will be Book 4 and if there is time, I’ll begin Book 5. Writing a series will be challenging for me because until this point, I’ve always been a pantser. I’m as surprised about what gets put on the page as the reader. I’ve always resisted planning ahead because to me it ruins the fun of writing. But, you can’t pants a series, especially one with interlocking events and storylines. So I’ve had to compromise and at least give myself a guideline to follow.
Well, at least it’s a good theory. I’m finishing up my third book in this series and have already had to go back several times to insert relevant information in the finished books, since they’re all happening in a very short time frame to each other. Book 5 is actually the first story to chronologically start, yet will be the last one told. Snippets of the progress will appear in all four of the other books in the series.
Wish me luck!