So I got re-started with NaNoWriMo and then I had another few days where I just didn’t get the fiction writing thing happening. And then today I read the Quiet Rebel Writer’s confession that this year she’s a NaNoWriMo dropout. Not quite what I was hoping to read about.

What can I say? The big problem is I broke my promise to myself about writing my novel before I wrote my paid writing. When push comes to shove, and I have just a little time, then I just have to do the paid writing first or my editors will get mad and (importantly) I won’t get paid.

However, I’ve been so organised this week that I’m way ahead of schedule on my paid writing and now I really have time to continue my novel. There are no excuses. Just the usual procrastination.

This week a friend of mine asked me, when I’m writing fiction, how much of the time I actually enjoy the process. I thought this was a really interesting question. I think the answer is that nearly all of the time I’m enjoying it, or I wouldn’t be doing it. Even when I’m feeling a bit under pressure for word count and the race of NaNoWriMo, I still enjoy it. Heck, I enjoy nearly all of the writing I get paid to do, too. I even like reading what I write (most of the time). It’s a funny thing, and impossible to explain, though I guess most writers feel the same way. My husband described me yesterday as a “real” writer because, from what he’s heard from me and my family, I’ve always written. I just have to write. And it’s true, there’s been barely a time in my life when I didn’t have some kind of writing project on the go, even though I can’t even really give a reason for it. I just enjoy writing, both for the process of it, putting words together in ways that sound good, and having a finished product.

Perhaps this argument is convincing me to get back to my NaNoWriMo draft. One more thing – I’ve been wanting to make it all “better” writing than last year’s NaNo draft – “beautiful writing”, so to speak – but one of the main points of NaNo is just to “get it all out”, as fast as possible, and then work with it later. In a way I’ve been trying to make my life easier later by writing it “better” now, but that might be holding me up. So back to the NaNo draft it is to write things however they come out and to focus on reaching the finishing line with some semblance of a novel draft in place. I know this works well for me because otherwise it’ll take me a decade to finish a first draft. Here goes.

Regular readers might have been expecting a bit of a report on my NaNoWriMo progress after I started 10 days late but with great enthusiasm.

Excuses for not writing this week? Let me count the ways … or at least give you the abbreviated collection of bad reasons I gave myself for not writing. Starting with going back to teaching after nearly a month off (hey, more exhausting than I remembered) and leading through various dramas up to spending a fair whack of time helping out a friend with a problem, I didn’t even get back to my NaNoWriMo novel draft on Saturday when I probably did have time.

But because all of you out there in internet land know that I’m trying to do NaNoWriMo, I can’t fail. At least not yet. One of the “pep talk” emails that the NaNo people sent this week mentioned that this year we’re lucky that there are actually five weekends in November, so we have an even better chance of finishing. That gave me some extra inspiration, and since I know I can write fast when I have to, I started out again this afternoon.

The interesting thing is that everything I’ve written so far is kind of the back story to the real story I plan to write. Or, it’s the part of the character that I hadn’t imagined yet. The story I have for Agnetha, my main character, really starts when she’s around thirty, but I started the novel in her childhood and right now, she’s in her mid-20s and about to marry. The story is twisting around in directions I never dreamed. I’m seriously hoping it will twist the right way to get me into the story I actually want to tell once she hits thirty, which should be next chapter.

I know I talked a lot about having a good plan for this novel before I wrote it, but really, I don’t. This first few chapters are coming out completely unplanned, simply following chronological order, and otherwise everything that seems to be building the main character’s personality and everything that will have a bearing on how she behaves in the future, when I get to the “real” story, is coming out from some completely subconscious part of my brain. It’s an interesting process.

To reiterate the plan thing, I still would, someday, like to write a novel that is superbly planned before I begin to write. One of two things could happen: I could confidently write the novel, knowing where it’s going and therefore planting all the seeds I need in advance; or alternatively, I might discover that whatever I planned has no way of really working out on paper and my characters take me all over the place, to completely uncharted waters. I have a feeling it might be the latter, but I’d still like to try it, just in case having a detailed plan actually does make everything flow better. But I guess that’ll have to be next NaNoWriMo. For now, I’m going to struggle to get this one done: current required word count is 2,900 words per day. Do-able, especially with two more weekends after this one, but I wouldn’t want to get any further behind. Please send me good writing vibees …

The arduous yet addictive novel-writing feast that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated) began yesterday, November 1 – but I was busily holidaying in the south-west of Australia. I’ve got a tough week coming up relaxing on Rottnest Island with my in-laws from Switzerland, and only after that will I be seriously getting into NaNoWriMo.

But I’m excited about it. After last year’s NaNoWriMo “win” (that’s the term they use if you successfully complete a novel of at least 50,000 words during November) I know that I can do it. I’ve also got a list of four ways to make NaNoWriMo easier this time round and I’ll be able to do most of these, especially planning better before I write and writing dialogue better; unfortunately, after vowing not to be behind on word count from Week 2 like I was last year, I’m going to be even further behind because I won’t be seriously starting until November 8. But that’s life.

As for what my NaNoWriMo novel will be about, I’m scarily (and probably stupidly) still oscillating between two ideas. The first is to write what I always call my “Bratislava novel”; I have a first chapter of this, and a good plan as well. The second idea is something I’ve been brainstorming about for a few months now (but not confidently enough to mention much about it here); I’ll call it the Agnetha novel, because she’s the main character. If I was starting right now I’d write the Agnetha novel and I’m guessing that’s what will happen. But things can change in a week.

Anyone out there who’s already NaNoWriMo-ing – I wish you lots of good luck and good word counts. Let me know how you’re going. I’m still limbering up and will be trying to get some start made during this week, but the serious word-count writing will definitely not start until next week. But I’m determined to be a NaNoWriMo winner for the second time!

So if I’m not planning to write my serious second novel for the 2008 NaNoWriMo month, does that mean I skip the event altogether? Or should I turn my hand to some of the other writing ideas I have, for something a little less literary and more fun to write?

Recently I’ve really enjoyed reading a bunch of novels I’ve got from the “Humour” section of the fiction books in my local library. In theory, I dislike the way my library divides up all the fiction into weird categories including “Family Sagas” and “Romance” because most of the time I really have trouble figuring out where a book I’m looking for will be found. Yes, I check the catalogue then and find it, but I don’t see why it would be so bad to just have all the novels together in alphabetical order. However, having the “Humour” section separately has led me to indulge in a few great books, with my favourites being several by Mil Millington, like Love and Other Near-Death Experiences and Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About.

These experiences have left me wondering: could I write a funny book? Could I write a fluffy, funny novel that is simply fun to write, for NaNoWriMo this year, without having to worry too much about whether it’s actually a good novel or not? I’m not even sure yet if it’s a good idea, but I rather love the camaraderie of NaNoWriMo and the badges I get to put on my blog, and that general flurry of craziness. So it’s something to think about – I still have almost three months before I have to decide for sure.

You might well think I’m insane to already be considering my next attempt at NaNoWriMo, but it turned out that writing a draft of a novel wasn’t as hard as I expected, especially with the bonus pressure of a deadline and people watching me.

But I also learned a lot from the experience and come November 1 next year, I’ll be doing some things differently. In case I forget these personal pearls of wisdom, I thought I’d make a list:

1. Plan my novel more. This year, especially because of the spontaneous, last-minute decision to do NaNoWriMo, I just followed the plan in my head. That means that lots of events are skipping all over the place and there’ll be a lot of work to restructure stuff. Plus I finished the story at about 45,000 words and then wrote some extra scenes that had occurred to me later.
2. Include a chapter outline in this plan. My current novel draft has no chapter breaks. Help!
3. Pay more attention to using dialogue. Hopefully by this time next year I’ll be much better at writing dialogue, and thus be able to include more of it. I wrote a number of scenes in this novel that I’m sure would be stronger with more dialogue and less narrative.
4. Be better prepared and scheduled. It was more luck than good management that got me enough time to finish my novel draft this year. Whether it’s setting aside blocks of time, whole weekends, or a little time each day, I’d be much happier if I was continuously above the target words per day rather than struggling to catch it from week two.

Panic over. I’ve finished the first draft of my novel. Not only have I become a NaNoWriMo winner (hence the special icon they gave me on the right), I’ve even managed to fulfill my New Year’s Resolution to write a novel in 2007.

Yay me! There’s a lot more work to be done on this manuscript before even my closest critics can lay eyes on it, but the substance is there. Plus I’ve learned that I’m not as skilled at procrastinating as I thought.

Thanks to everyone who’s been cheering for me to keep writing throughout November, including my husband (who jeopardised my finish by coming home early), my Mum (who now owes me a serve of gyoza) and Milt, Jules, Katrina and Claire (who now owes me a pressie from KL!). It definitely made a difference to know you were keeping an eye on me.

So to sum up, it’ll be a little while yet before you can buy my first novel in a bookshop, but I’ve certainly made a huge step towards that being possible. Now I’m going to stop typing before I develop RSI (sorry, it’s called OOS these days, right?). Novel writer extraordinaire signing off …

So, almost a week ago I posted in a panic that I had just a week or so more to get from 21,000 words to 50,000 in this November novel-writing challenge. Now it’s almost the end of Wednesday, the third last day of November. Things are going OK, in fact probably according to plan: my NaNoWriMo profile is showing 40,357 completed words now.

But there are always a few tricks thrown in. My husband surprised me by coming home early tonight, instead of Friday, which is lovely (“great to see you darling!”) but bad for my novel. On Friday after work we’ll be heading down south with some friends for the weekend, so that just leaves Thursday. Tomorrow. To write 9643 more words. Plus all my regular paid blogging gigs for Thursday AND Friday.

It’s going to be a tough day at the keyboard tomorrow.