Oh, I know that it’s officially named National Novel Writing Month, but since I live in New Zealand, and people all over the world join in the fun each November… I’m renaming it to be interNational. 🙂

Now, getting down to business. If you are joining in with all the NaNoWriMo madness this year – what are you planning to do? Much to my own surprise, I have decided to do something a little different this year. Instead of writing 50,000 words… I’m going to edit and revise 50,000 words, which is the amount remaining that I have to edit on The Mediterranean Source to  finish this final edit and revision. Then hopefully I can convince my friend to help me polish it in December. 

Every year in March, there is a month called NaNoEdMo, which is a month specifically designed for editing your NaNoWriMo novel. They base it on 50 hours of solid editing over the month. I’m going to do my November challenge just slightly differently. It will work the same way as NaNoWriMo with word counts of my edits, etc. So that is how I am going to track myself over the month of November. Same principle, slightly different methodology, same NaNoWriMo tools (word count and daily goal).

You may be wondering why on earth I am thwarting away from my annual writing challenge – the one that I participate religiously in… Because this year I am pregnant, and honestly, I can only fit so much information into my head. I think that it would probably be a seriously nasty thing to do to myself if I tried to squash in an entire novel in there and produce it within 30 days. That’s a bit rough!

So this is my alternative. And when I look at it objectively – I think it’s a pretty good solution and alternative to work with. I need to finish the editing on this book, and this is a prime opportunity to get stuck in and do it.

I know that plotting out a novel can be rather overwhelming at the best of times – let alone one that you are going to produce within a month! Whether you are a Plotter or a Pantser, there will always be a little initial planning that goes into your novel – whether it is research, or character development, or scene and setting. There is always a little planning that goes into these things.

So…. here is a little treat for those of you who are currently plotting out your NaNoWriMo novels. Alexandra Sokoloff’s Narrative Structure Cheat Sheet. Seriously – whether you are plotting a Nano novel or not – this is a brilliant tool to use! When I saw it yesterday – the first thing I wanted to do was to print it out and use it straight away. A fantabulous tool for any writer to use. So thank you very much, Ms Sokoloff – your brilliance will benefit all creative writers!

So off you go. Plot, plan, and dream up your new novels that you’re planning to write. Let me know how your progress is going.