Writing fool, or fool writing? - Posted by Steve Mount

So, the past two weeks or so, Karen and I and the kids have been living back in Burlington. It is strange but nice to be "back home" as we wait for our new home to be completed. I've spent more time with my sister than I think I have in the past ten years put together, and gotten to know Nick in ways that just aren't possible when you're here for 30 to 90 minute visits at a time. We were all able to spend far more time with Pam during her visit than we would have otherwise.

Also during this time, without all of my toys to play with, I decided to dabble in something some might think a little loony. Well, perhaps "dabble" is a bit weak for what I ended up doing: I took part in a competition, of sorts, to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. The rules are that you can't start before 11/1 and you have to finish before 11/30. I had heard of the competition before, but had no plans to participate. But then, an inspiration hit, and I decided to go for it.

I averaged roughly 5,000 words per day, and just finished my novel this morning. The final tally was 50,833 words. I put it all into Word and formatted it roughly like a trade paperback novel and it comes in at 183 pages over 30 chapters. Not too shabby, I think. I will post the story at some point, in case any one is interested in reading it. For now, though, I know it needs to go through some editing. As long as I don't dip below 50K in the editing process, I'm good. Oh, and it is definitely rated PG-13 to R, so it is not appropriate for reading to your kids at bedtime!

If you want to check out an excerpt, go to the web site at NaNoWriMo.org and search for author steve802. You can see a chart of my progress and one of the chapters there. If you're inspired, you can also sign up and write - there's still time!

Some quirky and notable things about it:

• It is a love story.
  
  
• It takes place during the time of writing, so Halloween and the election make appearances.
  
  
• It is entitled The Story of Jack.
  
  
• None of the characters have last names (well, of course they do, but I never reveal them).
  
  
• Though the main character's life mirrors my own in several ways, it is not about me.
  
  
• Two of the main characters are Jack and Kate - named for characters on Lost, but not related to them in any other way.
  
  
• I used several words from Word Of the Day (wordsmith.org) in the story. Most notable was vespiary.
  
  
• For sci fi fans, it includes references to Star Trek and Star Wars, and allusions to Battlestar Galactica. For ninja fans, there's even a cameo appearance!
  

I think that's it for now - happy days!