Let the Countdown Commence in Three, Two, One…

That’s right people. There are three days left in October. Halloween is only two days away, which means I will stock up on delicious, horribly non-nutritious snacks which I will desperately need for the month to follow.

No, I will not be trick-or-treating, and I don’t believe my children will either. Sadly, I fear we may be past that phase of life.

*sobs*

In lieu of the trick-or-treat stash, I shall be making the trek to Sam’s Club (because there is no Costco closer than three hours) to buy a giant bag of sugar-filled junk, and then I will dress up and sit on my porch to hand out half of it. The other half will be greedily and desperately stashed. I’m seriously going to need it. (Just like I needed all those adverbs!)

That’s right. The month following Halloween? November. Otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. (At least, in America. I don’t know about my foreign friends, but hey—I think this could be a global thing. Anyone can participate!)

I have a few ideas, and two or three or six books that need to be written. So yeah. I plan to draft one of them in November. Please bear with me if I neglect this blog (though it’s not currently in the plans) and definitely stop by on November 6^th to enter in a massive, super fun contest to celebrate the release of the second edition of DESCENDANT, which also includes BONUS material.

This means that a whole LOT Of writers and authors will be signing out of social networking and neglecting blogs, housework, family, and holiday decorating in order to write entire novels in thirty days or less. Me included.

If you’re participating, friend me on the NaNoWriMo site. If not, enjoy your relaxing, craze-free November. It’s good to know the rest of the world still functions while we create worlds and then blow them asunder.

Let the countdown commence…

Sprinting to the Finish

In case you’re wondering about my NaNo project, I’m just about to hit 40,000 words, and the month is only halfway over. This is both a good and bad thing. Good, because it appears that I will definitely make it to that 50,000 word mark. Bad because even then, in order to get to the end, I’m afraid I’ll have to keep going at this pace until at least the end of the month.

That’s a lot of work. If you’re wondering how this has happened (the word count thing), two words:

Sprint writing.

Yeah. Sometimes in the form of a race, during which a whole bunch of authors take a designated time slot and write until our fingers practically catch fire. Other times it’s in the Twittersphere (see sidebar link to become a follower and join in) using the #1k1hr hashtag and involving anyone who wants to join in an attempt to write, well, 1,000 words in an hour.

However I do it, sprint writing works for me because it forces me to dive into the story, whether I want to or not. This creates situations in which my characters make discoveries and lead me on a journey I might otherwise have missed. And so far, I’m pretty happy with my story.

How are you doing with the project you’re working on? What works best for you and what keeps you going?

**PS. It’s not too late to join in the fun and get more entries to my I Heart Follower contest. Don’t forget to enter!