Never say that advertising doesn’t work. I normally steel myself and never click on any links that might result in an overload of rubbish on Facebook or Google, but on 30 September I did click on a link and it resulted in My Novel Writing Month – October.

Ads for Masterclass subscription has appeared everywhere in my digital life recently and I’ve been intrigued. Thriller writing lessons by David Baldacci and Dan Brown, story writing with Neil Gaiman and Margaret Attwood; how was I to resist this? Well, you might have guessed that I didn’t. I paid my monthly subscription, listened to David Baldacci for half an hour and got so inspired that I decided there and then to do my own version of NaNoWriMo this year – in October. I couldn’t wait until November as by then, my excitement and get-go would have disappeared and I would be back to not writing again. And I’m planning to do a little gingerbread Christmas market and baking is time consuming. October definetly works better for me.

I basically came up with a plan, well, kind of a plan, not a plan at all really, just the first couple of scenes in half an hour, the evening before my challenge was to start. I’ve done NaNoWriMo four times before and every time, I’ve spent at least a month before planning the story, the plot, daily writing scenes. I’m a planner and always have been. This time though I’m winging it, and you know what? It’s kind of exciting.

Every day I listen a little to Baldacci and Brown and get a little more inspired to do better. I’ve now got more of an idea about the plot line (although I need some more characters) and I know how it should end. The first three days of this here challenge have been completed and I’m on a roll, but as we all know, these things get harder the further along one gets. I’m hoping to have a good first draft chunk of, working title: Tom 3 (not very exciting I’m afraid) by the end of October and a full first draft by Christmas. If I can do that, it will be the fastest first draft I’ve ever written.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, grab inspiration when it strikes and enjoy the ride.

Ciao

Marie