NaNoWriMo 2015

I'm getting ready for NaNoWriMo 2015, and thought I'd share a few thoughts about my prep as it gets closer.

First, the book: I started with a couple of different ideas, but last night had one of the in-color, extremely vivid dreams that my sleep is heir to—many of my dreams are movie-quality, it's kinda cool!—and completely changed gears. Instead of the sci-fi world-building novel I originally envisioned (without much real background, to speak of), I'll be working on a thriller/suspense novel. I don't have a title for it yet, but here's the back-cover blurb I came up with:

Steven Johnson is a police detective, and has seen some pretty bizarre things in his time on the force. He never imagined the mesmerizing woman he met at Story's Restaurant and Bar would lead him to the strangest case of his life. Why are there jail cells in the walk-up apartment she seems to call "home"? Why is she so afraid of the other person who seems to live there?

Yeah, it needs work, but that's just the first brush of the plot! So anyway, it literally came to me in a dream, and we'll see how far it goes.

Second, the work: To write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days takes—let's see, drop the remainder, carry the one—an average of one thousand six hundred sixty-six and two-thirds words every day of the month. If that seems like a lot, it does seems a little much for every day writing; most writing advice I see tells a budding writer to aim for 250 or 500 words/day as a goal. Having said that, 500 words is really not that much, being able to sit down three times a day and write 500 words each time will get me very close to the daily goal, so that's my goal: 500 words per sitting session, sitting at least three times a day just to write.

Third (and finally), other goals: I am almost certainly not blogging my daily progress (I am not the world's best daily blogger in any event!), but I aim to post occasional updates, and a weekly progress report.

Scrivener has already been primed, the project is ready and project targets have been set. It's almost go-time!