8k away!

I've attempted National Novel Writing Month before, mostly pre-kids (what my excuses were for not finishing then I have no idea), but this time around it's been the perfect kick in the pants I needed to work on finishing a manuscript I started a few months ago and get a head start on a couple others. I'm also using this time to research info I need to successfully self-publish two books that are my passion projects!

As of this afternoon, I'm 8k away from finishing my first manuscript of NanoWriMo "Too Close to the Case" and I'm equally excited and really scared because I'm afraid I'm going to absolutely hate what I've written! I liked it so much in the beginning, then the middle went a different direction than I'd planned, and then the characters and story just took on a life of their own and now I'm trying to figure out how to write the last 8k words and have it all make sense.

I know a lot of authors get caught up in editing the manuscript along the way, and I do too, to a degree, but I've only read through it once in order to figure out my train of thought when I'd taken too long of a break in between writing sessions so I really have no clue right now what it's all going to read when I read it from start to finish. I joked yesterday with my husband that I'm afraid it's going to read like a "Guy Noir" novel from NPR's Prairie Home Companion Lake Wobegon series.

"That might be OK," my husband said, haha. Hopefully he's right.

Anyway, it's helped a lot to be tracking my progress via the NanoWriMo website and my little tracking sheets - it's nice to have a visual accountability chart that reminds me every day to just buckle down and get some words on the page.

Anyway, here's hoping the month is going smoothly for anyone else working on a novel and may we all have something worth reading when it's over!