So I did it. Jumping on the National Novel Writing Month bandwagon, I committed to writing 500 words a day during the month of November. Actually, Nanowrimo sets the bar at 1667 words per day. But with a writer’s retreat landing early in the month, my full-time job, and my natural inclination toward sloth, I decided that was unrealistic. Promising to write only 500 words a day made the whole thing feasible. The good news is that it worked!

Because of the commitment—which was only to myself—I made time every day to work on my next novel, whether I felt like it or not. Some days I even produced more than my minimum word count. And, surprisingly, I enjoyed letting the words flow with no thought of editing along the way. Normally, I write and revise as I go. But just writing, without critiquing, was liberating.

I reached a grand total of 16,735 words. Is some of it drivel? No doubt. But that’s what the endless revision process is all about. At least I got most of the story out of my head and onto the page. It’s good to spend time with Rae again.