It’s been a few years since I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month (I was busy finishing that degree, you know), but I thought I’d have a go this year. I’m not participating in the traditional way since I’m not starting a new novel from scratch. I have my second draft of Down Salem Way done, but it needs more work. I know James and Sarah fans (or James and Elizabeth fans, in this case) are waiting with stilted breath to see this latest installment of the Wentworths’ story, so I thought I’d use NaNoWriMo as my time to whip the story into shape.
Even though I’m not starting with a blank page, I’m still going for the goal of 50,000 words by the end of the month. Now, usually the Loving Husband stories run about 90,000 words, so we’ll see if the novel is actually finished by November 30. I participated in NaNoWriMo once before, in 2014, and I was actually very pleased with what I had by the end of the month. We shall see how this goes.
Since the Loving Husband stories are also historical fiction, I’m sure I’ll need to do some research while I’m writing, but that’s not going to keep me from my goal of 1667 words a day, so it will be a month of both researching and writing for me. I’ve completed a lot of my research on life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the late seventeenth century already, but I’m sure I’ll find holes that need to be filled with details from the time period.
Photo from Elijah O’Donnell from Unsplash
Do you have a novel you’ve been dying to write? Today is the day to start! Head on over to the National Novel Writing Month website, join up, and get started! It really is a lot of fun, if a bit stressful at times, but knowing that you’re making daily progress on your novel is a rewarding feeling. Happy writing!
