Once for NaNo I wrote a story about a redheaded mage chasing after the man he loved. It wasn’t quite that simple, of course. I tossed in demons and broken magic and a mad mage and a llama, just to mix things up. Also to go with my long fascination with marine life, this was the first time a landsquid showed up. I didn’t really know where it was going but I wrote it anyway and realized a good ways in 1) where it was going and 2) that it wasn’t a stand-alone book. It was a trilogy.
That was 2008. In 2009, I wrote the second book. I posted it on my blog as I went, which was an exercise in AAAHH!! let me tell you.â€
Anyway. I got to the end of book two in seventeen days, but I’d skipped a lot and left a lot undeveloped and I didn’t have a clue how to write the third book. Add all that to the work of starting up Turtleduck Press with my co-Turtleduckers, and then publishing several novels from the Dream’verse, and you get me never getting back to Hiro’s third book.
Until now. 😀
Yes, dear faithful ones, this NaNo I write the third Hiro book. I’d meant to edit the first one again before I did, but that didn’t happen. I’d meant to straighten out the mess that is the second book, but that didn’t happen. So I’ll plunge on and we’ll see where it gets me. It had better get me to 50,000 words in a month, though. I’ve already met my one and only allowed (without major lifesplosion, anyway) NaNo Loss already. That’s a lifetime quota, and I have no intention of exceeding it. *some exclusions apply
I’m excited! I’m scared. I’m wondering where in the heck I’m going to find the time to write 50,000 words when I’ve barely managed 750Â most days for longer than I care to remember. Sure, I’ve won NaNo before. I’ve also failed before. So we’ll see.
Things I should probably do before NaNo begins–
- Figure out the root of my magic system, because I’m going to need that information. I sort of figured out the surface–okay, the top five layers or so, I’d say–back when I started, but I never managed to dig down to the bottom. I should be able to come up with it now, seeing how I’ve been poking at it on and off for five years.
- Decide what would be a satisfying ending for my less major characters. (can’t bring myself to call them minor characters.) I know what’s going to happen to Hiro and Eshan (bwahahahaha!) but still have no idea what I should do with Devendra, Shukri, Ume, and Huggsley. Better cover Shione as well.
- ???
- Profit! I mean…write a good book. Yeah. That.
So this is it! I’m publicly committing. If you want to keep an eye on my progress, it will be here. If you’re NaNoing this year, I’d love to buddy up. Want to support the Office of Letters and Light (the NaNo organization) and cheer me on in a tangible manner? Here is my fundraising page. The more you guys commit, the more I will have to be committed, right? I would hate to let you down.
LET’S DO THIS!
†I put it behind a password because I plan to publish this at some point. But the password is the last word of the post’s title, and I tell anyone who asks that, so I’m not sure exactly what the password thing is supposed to accomplish except I guess it hides the post from search engines? I should hope so, anyway.