Over the hump: NaNoWriMo week 3

So Sunday has rolled around again, and I’ve managed to wake up with a cold (how does that happen?). Never mind, I’m over the NaNoWriMo hump! If NaNoWriMo were a 5-day working week, I’d be in the early hours of Thursday. Ish.

It’s been a funny writing week. I’ve carried on with the pomodoro technique and hit my numbers each day – exceeded them in fact – but much of it has been spent writing scenes that I hadn’t planned when I sketched the outline. Maybe that means that my understanding of the book is growing…or maybe it means that it will all need a massive rewrite. I guess I’ll find out eventually!

Something else that happened this week was that I got the result of my Kindle Scout campaign for A House of Mirrors, which is last year’s NaNoWriMo book. It came towards the end of the 15 days Amazon say they will notify you within, and to be frank, as a not-very-patient person, I was getting tetchy, so in some ways it was a relief just to know. It didn’t get picked up by Kindle Press – not really a surprise as the odds are so low – but I have had lots of nice messages and Twitter follows, many from people I hadn’t met before starting my campaign. So I now have another item for my to-do list – to get the ebook and paperback ready for publishing! I’m aiming for an early December launch date, so watch this space…

Anyway, back to this year’s NaNoWriMo. My second big shocker, at about the halfway mark, has been unleashed; I’m not sure it’s as big as I want it to be, so I may have to work on that. In the meantime, I have lobbed another surprise in at about the 30K mark, and for next week I plan to let off a series of firecrackers in preparation for another big twist (could be 2) at around 38Kish. The characters have been bickering again, but I’ve managed to focus more on the main plot. I do have a feeling that when I edit this one it’ll end up longer rather than shorter. I did envisage it as being a 50Kish book, but at the moment I feel like I’m trying to pack for a 2-week holiday in a small rucksack.

This week’s stats:

• Word target: 28750 (cumulative)
• Words written: 31154 (cumulative)
• Writing days: 4
• % complete: 62%
• Murders: still 1
• Variations from the basic plan: where do I start?!
• Packets of crisps: 3 (roast chicken flavour)

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This week’s NaNoRhino is my writing rhino, who usually stands behind my keyboard. I find him a comforting presence.