Whoops! A couple of days late on this post. But that’s sort of the story of my life this week, so it fits.
It’s November! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, in which writers can challenge themselves to churn out 50k words on a single project in just 30 days) has begun. This year, after taking six full months to write my second novel (Oh hey, did I mention I finished my second novel? …. Just slipping that in there. Hi.), I decided it’d be a fun and interesting challenge to push myself and see what I could get done in a month.
1,459 words today. 70,206 on this project. And with that…I've finally finished the 1st draft of my 2nd novel! #amwriting #Accomplished pic.twitter.com/Nq7QLMUCwS
— Caryn Larrinaga (@carynlarrinaga) October 28, 2016
Over the summer, I outlined a horror novel and was going to tackle the first draft for NaNo. I even dragged my butt out of the writing cave and attended a NaNoWriMo kickoff party on Saturday afternoon. That’s how committed I was to this idea. (Bonus: met tons of fun people and discovered that Kafeneio in South Salt Lake makes a red latte, which is like a chai latte but from red rooibos tea.)
What was I talking about? … Oh right, NaNoWriMo. *clears throat*
As the saying goes, I had the best laid plans. And then something absolutely awesome happened to completely nuke those plans:
The first round of edits on DONN’S HILL came back from my publisher!! It’s crazy exciting!!!
If you’re not a writer, you might find it weird that I’m itching with anticipation to dive into a document where an editor has most assuredly ripped my manuscript–the Word doc embodiment of my heart and soul–to shreds. But it is SO AMAZING. A good editor can help take a book from good to great, from great to awesome, from awesome to mind-blowing. A good editor can spot weak points in the narrative, missed opportunities for added tension or improved character development, and basically push an author to new heights.
PLUS, this is a mega milestone on my book’s journey into your hands. We’re one step closer to DONN’S HILL being ready for publication and setting a release date! YES!
In summary, I’m crawling back into my writer cave to tackle my revisions. Please send pie and pictures of kittens.