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It may be Halloween for some… but for me it’s NaNoWriMo Eve! Yes, I’m doing another round of NaNoWriMo where the goal is to write 50,000 (or more) and to have a first draft manuscript when you’re done.

I’ll be working on a couple of projects in the month.

  • The Leo & Matt novella will be completed first. This has a working title now too, Breakaway & Score. We’ll see if that sticks. I’m projected this to top out around 38,000 words and so far I’ve got about 5,000 written. If I make only minimum word count for the days, I should be done with this by the 20th. Editing will happen in December because it’s due to JMS Books on or before December 31.
  • wingerboardsBook one of Codename: Winger will get underway as well. This book as a working title of Tracker Hacker. As you can see from the picture on the right I’ve done a good bit of plotting here. The whiteboard has the major plot points on the left and a chapter outline on the right (I need to get that chapter outline into Scrivener so it’s in there and ready to go). The chalkboard squares have character sketches for the main players. Assuming I’m on track with the Leo & Matt story, Tracker Hacker should start on the 21st and I’d get at least 16,670 words done for that draft by end of month. I’m expecting this book to top out right around the 50k mark. Obviously work would continue on this into December. Nothing would make me happier than to have book one’s first draft done by the end of December.

The little blue widget below will track my NaNo progress. It’ll always been on this blog page. You can also find it on my Works In Progress Diary, where I’ll also do my usual daily word count tracking as well.

This year, more than ever before, I feel like 50,000 words is attainable. As I’ve been working on word sprints in the past few months, my average is typically 600 words or more in a 20 minute interval. Counting five minute breaks between intervals, that means I should have at least 1,800 words in 70 minutes. I should be able to do that or more daily since I’ve got my plots broken down.

There are challenges ahead though. Starting November 2, I’m changing my working hours from East Coast to West Coast. Theoretically, this simply means that I’m doing my writing between 5:30am and 8:30am rather than 2:30pm to 5:30pm. Hopefully my brain doesn’t get caught up on that. Also, the week of November 16, I spend the week traveling for work. The travel days on Monday and Friday that week will be difficult to write, plus we’ll have to see if I can sprint efficiently while on the road. I will find a way around this potential obstacle.

So that’s my NaNo plan for this year. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.