I know, that is a terribly exclamatory title – but for good reason. You see, this year I finally got my shite in order and, when November 1 rolled around, I actually had a plan of attack for NaNoWriMo. I’ve signed up over the years and did so again last year under my pen name (L.D. Blakeley for those of you following along at home) but never actually made a concerted effort to commit to the challenge.
This year, I not only had an outline for the story I wanted to hammer into a first draft but, the weekend before NaNoWriMo kicked off, I took a road trip to the part of the world where I created my fictitious town of Shadowy Pines. It helped. A lot. Not only did I have my outline (which morphed a bit over the course of the month – it happens) but I had a firm picture in my head of where everything was going to happen. Planning. Who knew?
In any event, I have a first draft that I’m hoping I can whip into something I can submit by year’s end. Of course, with Christmas just around the corner and another WIP that’s currently sitting at 22K words, the likelihood of that getting pushed back is quite high.
In the meantime, however:
Yep. I’m pretty pleased with myself.
Also? This little pretty makes me quite proud, too.
So, a HUGE thank you to all of you who were so kind as to nominate my novel, Opportunity Knocks in the Best in Contemporary Category. It means the world to me! And, incidentally, you still have a couple of days to vote if you haven’t already done so. Evernight is giving away a $50 gift card to one lucky person, so why not throw your hat in the ring?