Nanowrimo, how I love you. Let me count the ways...

Nanowrimo is coming to an end and writers all over rejoice. Did you finish your 50k words? Did you stop half way through? Did things get too busy with the holidays, family issues, or just your job working you to the bone.

No worries. You got some words down and you figured out a little bit more about yourself. Personally, I’ve been doing Nanowrimo since 2001. I’ve never once hit 50k words, but I found out long ago that 50k words a month just wasn’t me. The thing that works for me, the thing I’ve been doing for years, is writing a first draft. whether that’s 20k words or 38k words (my personal highest).

Virulent Venus, the first book in my sci fi/fantasy series, came in at 21,752 words. I am now shopping that novel around with about 85.5k words. I would be surprised if half of those nano words made it into the final draft. The second book in my series, Angry Mars, was a three year nano project. I have recently pulled it all together and am ready for a major editing session. This year, I took a break from my series to write something new. This one is a YA fantasy book. I focus on one character, unlike the five to seven characters in my series. And I finished the first draft is just under twenty thousand words.

Every year, my first draft is simply bare bones. I pushed through to the end so I know where I'm going, and after a month of rest, I will begin the editing process. Why did I start a YA novel instead of finishing out the first trilogy of my series? Because it's been a lot of work, that’s why. Querying the first book of this series has got me seriously questioning a lot of things. Why work on books two and three if one is never going to sell? I mean, that’s okay and all. I’m going to finish this series eventually, if only for myself. But I want to see if I can just write a normal novel. I want to see how quickly I can finish a regular book. I want to take a break from writing the series, but not take a break from writing.

And it’s working rather well.

One thing I do want to touch on, that’s been bothering me lately. I can’t throw as much time into writing as I would like. I have a job, and I have a family. I’m not willing to give up my job, my income, to throw everything into writing. Not yet. I’ve built too much. But I’m not as happy in it as I would be writing full time. So, I’ve been struggling with what to do. Do I pursue advancement in my career? Even if it means less time to write. Or do I stay stagnant, in a job I don’t really like, but one that gives me the down time to write occasionally? Let me know how you do it in the comments.

Anyway, I’ll wrap up this segment with a little about my querying journey. It’s on pause. In essence. I sent out double my usual queries at the end of October and took a break through November. It seems a lot of agents slow down through the end of the year anyway. I’m really trying to push Virulent Venus through the maximum agents, but I keep seeing disheartening advice. One came from an agent, who expressed how tired he was of seeing books that open with someone waking up. Well, crap. That’s exactly how my Prologue starts. Maybe I am more of an amateur than I thought. Or maybe I’ll just start sending out Chapter One, which starts with forlorn love and an execution.