NaNoWhyNot?

So, yesterday marked the beginning of 2011’s NaNoWriMo. I participated (and won) last year. Funnily enough, I wrote 50,000+ words in Screechers, and then threw the whole thing away a few months later and started completely, 100%, not-a-single-word-saved over.

I love me some NaNoWriMo, guys. The camaraderie, the sense of achievement at the end, and the all-around awesomeness that is the Office of Letters and Light.

This year, I’m kinda cheating. I’ll be working on A Darkness Strange and Lovely as well as a side YA contemporary project (with an awful working title of Purely Platonic).

A Darkness Strange and Lovely is my #1 priority. In addition to hammering out a minimum 1,667 words per day in new chapters, I intend to revise about 1,667 words a day too.

Purely Platonic is just something I work on at the very end of my evening. My “hobby book”–a reward for getting the real work done.

Not that I don’t love A Darkness Strange and Lovely–of course I do!–but I’m writing it ON A DEADLINE and according to a STRICT OUTLINE. Both of those things are very new to me, and I’ve found that they really make this whole writing thing feel a lot more like woooooorrrrrkkk.

Purely Platonic on the other hand is the story brewing in my heart that I just have to get on the page right now. NOW, I say, and if that means staying up until 3 AM every night, then so be it.

I know I won’t finish Purely Platonic–know I can’t finish it with my current work load–but I’ll keep plugging away for as long as the Muse is still feeling generous.

I’ve already started both novels, and their numbers look something like this:

A Darkness Strange and Lovely

63,366 words written

42,775 words revised and polished

20,611 words to revise and polish

24,000 words TO WRITE

Final Word Count Goal: 87,000 words

Purely Platonic

11,873 words written

10,000 words revised and polished

48,000 words TO WRITE

Final Word Count Goal: 60,000

I don’t expect to write 72,000 words this month–I’m not CRAZY. But I do hope that between these two books, I can reach a total of 50,000 new words.

What about you? Are you doing NaNo? What are your goals, if so?

And be sure to add me as a buddy, if you are!

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