Alright. I think I’m finally making some progress with Grim February. I’m still in Chapter Twelve, but last night, I finally managed to finish that scene that was giving me so much trouble. I’m now 18 hand written pages into the effort (which should mean I’ve written around 6,300 words) and I’m feeling the story picking up steam once again.
I’m sitting down to write some more this morning. Got the coffee brewing and I’m ready for a big push.
The start of Grim February has been brutal. I’ve been trying for days, desperately, to write myself out of this scene I’m stuck in. Eleven hand written pages later, I think I nearly have it now. Hopefully I can move on soon, pick up some momentum and get this novel moving onto the home stretch.
In some good news, I spent much of the last two days figuring out the ending of the novel. And I think I pretty much have it now. Including the murderer. As my wife said in her infinite wisdom at this point: Now you only need to go and write it all down. Ha!
Today, I’m starting a month of doing nothing but trying to finish the first draft of my novel. Something I’m calling Grim February.
Some of you might know that I work as a freelance journalist and podcaster to make my living. And in the months since finishing NaNoWriMo 2021, I haven’t gotten much work on the novel done, because I’ve been very busy with assignments. Therefore, I’ve taken the whole next month off from my other work to concentrate on GRIM DEEP in the hope of bringing my government grant to a successful conclusion.
I will keep you updated on this blog and my Twitter account as to how this effort is progressing. My current manuscript stands at 11 chapters and 73,103 words. I have no idea how long the novel will be, I don’t even know the details of how the story will end yet. But I will give my best to finish it in February. Wish me luck!
I did it! I just won the National Novel Writing Month 2021! With two days to spare, I wrote 50,000 words for my novel in November. I’ve won! For the second time. And unlike 2011, I will not throw this novel out. I will continue writing it. I will edit it and I will, eventually, put it up on this very website, chapter for chapter, for you to read. And when it is completely done, I will get it published as an ebook and as a paperback.
But right now, I will go and sleep. A lot.
I’m now at 40,120 words written for NaNoWriMo 2021. Which means I’m right on target for my goal as of yesterday. I am hopeful that I can catch up to today’s goal later in the day. Once I’ve slept a little bit. I’d really like to be one daily word goal ahead as I tend to write into the night and need this safety blanket to finish in November instead of the early hours of 1 December – and thus fail the challenge by a hair’s breadth.
But, if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be using most of the weekend to write – and I might be streaming a lot of this on Twitch as well. The goal is to finish the 50,000 words right there and then and not even run the risk of failing during the last two days. Not sure I can manage that, but I will definitely try my best – real life commitments permitting.