Authors Electric

  I live in the USA. Here it is NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month). *sigh* I never make NANOWRIMO work for me. And that bums me out, because it is a thing formed to help people finish their novels, and Finish Your Damn Novel! is the phrase I coined when I formed my first writing workshop, because many people need support to finish a book, and I was hoping that hosting a group would give that support to me, as well as the members in it. But NANOWRIMO is never something I can get excited about because it is in November. I have been a college adjunct professor for a gazillion years. This means that, in November, I have literally hundreds of students who are trying to get their writing done and in to me to read and grade. Or needing me to help them get their writing together. Or, often, needing me to help them get their college app essays ready. When you're a full-time professor in the USA in the writing department your teaching load is +/- four classes/semester, for about eight...

  November is an odd month, I think. I don’t like cold, wet weather and by November, even I have to conclude that the summer has definitely gone. On the other hand, November is NaNoWriMo time, where lots of us commit to write 50,000 words in November. That’s exciting, it’s busy, it’s a lot to do, especially as I decided this year to aim for 70,000 so my first draft of book 3 would be finished, rather than have it hang around my head for most of December and possibly January. Exciting! And such a great excuse for not going anywhere, for being far away, daydreaming about somebody else’s life... It helps with the weather as well. My first proper NaNo project was Sapphire Beach, set in Crete, in September, with lots of soft beaches, baklava and sunshine. This year, my poor characters are making their way through a jungle; one nearly got eaten by a crocodile. Not as sweet as dreaming of baklava, but definitely warmer than it is outside. Having said that, we went to Bournemouth las...