Maggie Blackbird

Yes, I did. Yesterday evening, 50K loomed on the horizon. I was almost there. Tired and dehydrated, I stumbled across the finish line, swearing to myself I’d never do this again.

I never knew what NaNoWriMo was until I gave it a try last year. I’d hear people talking about it but never asked what they had to exactly do as participants. Winning two years in a row, along with securing my Biffno win, all I can say is I have no secret formula, other than dear dad’s stubbornness. Once dear dad commits to something, he sees his project through, no matter how gruelling, how much sleep he’s deprived of, how much his bones ache, etc. I’m the same way. Forty below or not, I force my butt out of bed. By six-thirty (when a smidgen of daylight appears), off I go with the Mals for their morning walk. I’m no different with writing, or getting my feet on the elliptical, or picking up the weights to strength train.

Do I hit the occasional wall when writing? Yup. Mind you the characters always see me through. I’m part panster and part plotter. I always know my beginning, middle, and end for each story—once the characters come to life. Maybe I owe each win to the characters? Before I consider putting words to a story, I spend a month, two months, sometimes even three months, or even years—yes years for my Boys from the Bay series—daydreaming about these characters. I act out all kinds of stories in my head. When I select music, it’s a story soundtrack for the characters. Everything takes shape upstairs for me.

Then an urge surfaces—the powerful urge to commit to pen and paper. Okay, maybe keyboard and laptop sounds better, huh? LOL.

Now that I won, I’ll keep going until the 30th and see how many words I wrack up.

How is your NaNo going?