Six Days until National Novel Writing Month

Six days until the official kick off of National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org) and this I what I have come up with so far:

·         A murder in a Chinese restaurant

·         ???

·         ???

·         ???

·         ???

Of course, procrastination, writer’s block and chaos are all part of the fun during the 30-day quest to write 50 thousand words. That works out to about 1,667 words a day. This sounds quite doable on the surface, but by day two of week three every word can become a desperate grasping at straws.

Last night I dreamed about my victim. She was slumped over a bowl of wonton soup wearing a brocade ball gown that was last fashionable about 50 years ago. It was such a powerful visual image and yet I knew that the story had to open up with dialog to set up the strange story. I still need to come up with my main characters, killer and ancillary characters.

My only hope is that I will make it across the finish line this year in spite of the fact that I have a final paper due Monday for my film class, a new class on Tuesday and end-of-the-year projects at work. Being a writer is not easy or convenient and many of us toil away while working full-time jobs.

To all of you NaNoWriMo writers out there, I salute you!