Phew! August 1 (how did that happen?) and I’m very pleased to report that Camp NaNoWriMo is done and the sequel to Murder At The Playgroup is in full draft!
Here’s the graph:
My target was 50,000 words for the month, and in the end I wrote just over 53K to finish Murder In The Choir. The last day was manic; I had 2 chapters left to write, and while just one would have been more than enough to take me over the 50K mark, where’s the fun in that? So I gobbled a slice of cheese on toast (don’t judge me), and embarked on Chapter 25 to log 4K and a bit more for the last day. I suspect the cheese may have influenced the chapter, since it is quite a cheesy ending! I still cried a little bit, though. That is an improvement on April’s Camp NaNo, where I cried a LOT. And I’m editing that next, so wish me luck.
The book isn’t perfect – of course not, it’s the first draft. I might have to drag a whole character, kicking and screaming, into a later book. As the narrative progressed I felt as if I was shoehorning her in, and she deserves better. Maybe she’ll even get her own story. To balance that, there were lots of serendipitous moments, and twists that insinuated their way into the book almost of their own accord. Love it when that happens!
It’s been quite a busy month. My older boy finished primary school, with all the emotion and parties and end-of-term things and ferrying about that involves. I waved goodbye to my pupils with the Tutor Trust for the summer holidays. I ran a poetry and story event at a local festival and gave a talk at a library. I have a new freelance thing going on, which I’ll probably talk about at some point. I even managed to sneak off to London for the weekend with my husband! And July was my best month ever for book income 🙂
I’m already thinking about what to write for NaNoWriMo in November. I suspect it might be the sequel to the one I’ve just finished – provided I’ve got it into shape by then! In the meantime, it’s full steam ahead on editing, formatting and covers for books 7 and 8. Watch this space (and of course my newsletter) for more book news!
Liz Hedgecock 