The calender says "December 1" and my brain is saying "Vacation!" Yes, I finished NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row. Do I have a blockbuster on my hands? No way. What I do have is the satisfaction knowing what I can accomplish when determined. This year had an added incentive: members of my local SCBWI Shop Talk meeting spent an entire meeting on preparing everyone for Nano and I added a bunch of writing buddies. Two of my critique group members--Lissandra and Andrea--also participated and finished (congratulations, ladies!). Writing can be such a solitary craft, but this year it wasn't. I had friends with the same intentions and, more importantly, I had fun.
My novel is titled Prince of Hawks. It's a fantasy featuring a princess who lives in a land in the clouds and the mysterious prince she befriends when her kingdom is attacked. There is a tremendous amount of worldbuilding and quite a cast of characters. Did I say I had fun? Yes. But there is still a lot to do with the manuscript since it is a rough first draft with plenty of review notes to go over, adding additional scenes and rewriting. There are still pictures I need to search for to help me envision some of the locations and steampunkish creations, followed by the plot checklist and then the breaking down of the plot points into an Excel spreadsheet (as I learned from Cheryl Klein's Master Class on Plot last October).
The first step is done. Now I will let the story rest and with my new found dedication and renewed enthusiasm, I will continue writing some of my other works-in-progress. With Christmas, baking, visiting, and shopping I may not have as much free time to devote to writing as I would like and that's okay. After National Novel Writing Month, I think it is fine to take some breaks here and there.
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