When I first learned of National Novel Writing Month, it wasn’t something that initially interested me, though I had intended to write a novel at some point. I have written a number of short stories recently and planned to get some more practice in short form under my belt, but a couple of weeks ago it popped into my mind, why not now? Why put it off? NaNoWriMo seemed like a good excuse to push myself. So I have 50,000 to write by November 30, which equates to a short novel of around 175 pages, or about the length of The Great Gatsby. I more intend to just write a 50,000 chunk of a longer novel. Most of my work is science-fiction, which lends itself to longer lengths.

The title of my novel is Have You Heard From Tuesday?, a science-fiction story about two physicists who have just created time-travel and are learning how to use, the problems and dangers with it, and where it can be profitable. They must deal with their own morality and temptations along the way.   

In preparation, I cleared off my desk. I’m pretty proud of myself (hence the photo) as it was previously unrecognizable as anything other than monsoon wreckage or a magazine stand for the past two years. I wish I had done more outline and research before I dove in on November 1st, but I had only decided to do NaNoWriMo about two weeks before the end of October, limiting my prep time. Under this circumstance, I’m using the month more as an exercise in disciplining myself as a writer and as a very rough, world-building draft for Have You Heard From Tuesday?. As part of the preparation stage I also used pacemaker.sewillia.com to create a writing calender, although I’ve already diverted from it and will have to update it with my current progress. Also, because I’m writing a book on time travel, which involves a lot of physics and science, I bought a number of books on the subject of time travel and other related science topics, which I will read as I go. The next draft will be more focused on getting the science right.