NaNoWriMo 2010 -- Days 1 to 3

Well, here I am, three days into this crazy writing odyssey known as NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month -- the daunting task of writing a 50,000 word novel in the space of thirty days).

This is the fourth time I've given it a shot, and well -- so far, so good.  I'm not going to jinx myself by saying those dreaded words ("This might be the year I make it!"), because when I did that last year, I got swine flu for six weeks!  It's like saying, "Gee, this might be a shut-out," at a hockey game.  You just don't do it.

My novel is called Carrying On, and I've been carrying it around in my head, in bits and pieces, for the last eighteen months or so.  The characters carry on conversations in my head at all hours of the night, and I've been privileged to listen.  So now I'm putting them down on paper, and doing my best to flesh them out in the manner that they deserve.  It's the same story I started last year, before I got H1N1ed, but in the interest of fairness, I started from scratch on Monday.

Here is a quick summary of how the first three days went:

• November 1st -- Target: 1667 words -- Actual: 697 words


• November 2nd -- Target: 3334 words -- Actual: 4012 words


• November 3rd -- Target: 5001 words -- Actual: 5936 words

Because my male protagonist is from Scotland, I'm currently looking to find someone in Scotland who can provide advice on "authentic" dialogue for him.  I want Mac sounding as if he's from Scotland, but not like a cartoon, or what North Americans might think he should sound like.  I want him to be genuine -- partly because I'm a little bit in love with the man.  And the fact that he looks and sounds like Kevin McKidd doesn't hurt, either. :)

Now if I can just convince Nero to stop trying to lay across my wrists when I'm typing away, things will improve immensely!