Less than a week into NaNo, I've made several discoveries. First, backing up one's unfinished novel on two computers and a hard drive does not completely ensure its safety. Accidentally writing an incomplete file over an updated one can cause word loss, panic, and rewrites. It so happened that I was writing a crucial and somewhat difficult scene that night - it comes from near the middle of the story, but I have never been one to write things in order and I had been thinking so hard about that one scene that I realized I needed to write it down before I forgot some of the splendid ideas I was having. Well, I was forced to write it twice, and fortunately I think I came pretty close to duplicating it the second time.
Second, I now suspect that the story I'm writing will end up being a lot longer than 50,000 words. I have a working outline that is slowly developing and filling in, and at a little over 20% of the NaNo word goal I haven't even begun to brush the surface of the plot yet. I'm sure a lot of the stuff I wrote this week will end up in the wastebasket by the final draft, but it's helping me warm up and gather some momentum before I hit the really important parts.
So, going up and down the scale from wondering why in the world I ever thought I could write to planning what the cover of my next book will look like, battling my Inner Editor (who insists on wasting time by constantly restructuring sentences and referring to a thesaurus), and trying to keep from being distracted by other forms of amusement such as the World Series and the Charlie McCarthy Show, I've put enough wordcount behind me to keep from biting my nails over the deadline. Tomorrow I can rake leaves with a clear conscience.
Oh, and one more thing - if you're writing anything set west of the Mississippi and having plot problems, I have one word for you - rustlers. Trust me, they come in handy every time.



In spite of the fact that I adore mountains, I concentrated more on the plains and foothills aspect since that's what I had in mind for my story. But I tell you what, I'm beginning to understand the lure of the lone prairie.

