She called from the other coast and challenged me to write a novel in 30 days or less. I laughed. Short poetry and flash fiction sprinkle the papers around me. To flood multi-pages with 50,000 or more words boggled my mind and froze my fingers.
Then she forwarded a link to National Novel Writing Month, aka NANOWRIMO, and I checked it out. I'm good at checking out. Taken with the enthusiasm the site engendered and reading advice offered by other writers, I accepted her challenge.
As it happened, I didn't have a plot, a timeline or a storyboard; however, I did have a local event in mind. It had puzzled and frustrated me. There it began.
Running with Scissors, now available at Lulu.com, was the product of that wild write in the month of November when a multitude of wannabes, bes and what-the-heckers wrote, quit writing, wrote again and many of them actually completed a novel. Several became published authors in a series of serendipitous events.
Running with Scissors will probably not become a best-seller but I'm surprised at the number of sales and pleased as punch to hear compliments.
She? Yes, she also completed her first novel and a perfect bound copy of
Aftershocks sits proudly on the bookcase shelf alongside
Running with Scissors.
Would I do it again? Yup. I'm actually looking forward to November NANOWRIMO and although I haven't a plot in mind, I'm sure one will come when commitment joins me at the keyboard.
Will I see you there?
P.S. The cover design is a fractal!
Posts
