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The first half of NaNoWriMo has passed (the annual attempt by writers to complete a full novel, or 50,000 words, in a month). Having done NaNo in the past I know this is the point where the reality of the situation has sunk in and you realize three things:

  1. This month will require much more caffeine than you anticipated
  2. You have to decide whether you’ll meet your goal or keep your sanity. You do not get both.
  3. You look around your home and determine which section of the house you’re going to live in because you won’t have time to clean anything else.

For myself, I’m actually not participating in NaNo this year because, well, I kinda already did it this summer. No, it wasn’t voluntary. Yes, dear God, it was painful, but the story wouldn’t let me go until I finished it. Seriously, the thing chased me to the keyboard and chained me there until midnight EVERY NIGHT, guzzling coffee and gnawing on forkfulls of dinner on a plate next to the keyboard. There were even a couple of close calls to the bathroom (Just kidding…Sort of.) It was a grind day-after-day. I wanted to put it aside. It was a new idea and I had other projects to finish up, including the revision of the final installment to my Insurrection series. People have been asking me about it. I need to get that DONE but this one just wouldn’t let me pay attention to anything else. It was a haunting, I’m telling you.

So, I gave in.

I said, “Fine, you treacherous, nagging beast.” I was addressing the muse here. “I’ll give you this month. One month, hear me? You better not be wasting my time.”

It wasn’t.

iStock_53106574_LARGE

Six weeks and 75,000 words later, it was finished. A YA Sci-Fi standalone novel set in a cyberpunk universe. Yeah, standalones are not smart from a business perspective and terrible to market, but I love this story. I love the characters. I love the gritty world. I could have made it into two books, maybe, but it’s stronger as a single story. Ideas like these, the ones that blast onto the page in a heady, sleep-deprived fever, deserve a writer’s loyalty. Trying to stretch it into something longer than it was meant to be seems ungrateful. Yeah, yeah, I’m just an idealistic Indie pup still cutting her teeth in this business, but I’m okay with that. I’ve got ideas meant to be in series form. This world has a single window for readers to look through, but after three revisions and a professional edit, I can promise the view is amazing. More posts to come on this, including the synopsis and a cover reveal early next year so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, for those who have been waiting on Insurrection’s final installment, I have good news:

Martyr, book five, will be published in December.

cover-5_martyr

Yes, next month. It’s happening and I appreciate all your patience and encouragement during the wait since book four was published. If you’d like a glimpse of it I’ve updated the series page to include the synopsis. Check that out here (If you haven’t read all four books yet, !SPOILERS!)

How is NaNo going for you this year, fellow authors? Feeling the mid-project pinch or are your word counts chugging along smoothly? Give me a glimpse of what goodies I have to look forward to reading next year!