#Preptober 2018

National Novel Writing Month--otherwise known as NaNoWriMo--is nearly upon us!

Last year was my first time participating, and I loved it. I got a complete novel written, and it happens to be one of my works that I'm the proudest of (don't worry, there's been plenty of editing involved as well).

Because I wrote Return to Sherwood last November, I thought it only fitting that this year I write book 2 in that series; A Promise to Keep. Also, I haven't been able to get my creative self to sit down and simply write book 2 in the various months that I have tried to do just that, so I thought giving myself a deadline and the chance of public humiliation would be more likely to get it done.

November is filled with late nights of trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and October is the prep time before you get to those sleepless nights. So have I been prepping? No. I have not.

Let me explain; A Promise to Keep is a sequel to Return to Sherwood, so except for a few new characters we'll run into, I already have detailed Character Profiles for every named character in this story. I also have a rough outline drawn up because Return to Sherwood did not take the story as far as I originally thought that it would, so A Promise to Keep shares part of that original outline. Plus, since I have attempted to write A Promise to Keep over the last year at various point in time, I did make an updated, more detailed outline as well. I have Character Profiles, an outline, and I've done research on the time period already. What more could I possibly need? That is why I haven't been prepping for November.

What I have been doing is rereading Return to Sherwood to get back into the feel and flow of that story. Every book I write has a slightly different voice, and because A Promise to Keep and Return to Sherwood are so closely connected I want their voices to resemble one another.

I am excited for November and to see how much of A Promise to Keep I can get written. I am also looking forward to the camaraderie and even the stress of NaNoWriMo. There is no environment quite like it, and I love it!

In the meantime, Happy Writing, everybody!