November 30, 2011 – THE DEADLINE
Exactly one year ago, I completed my first
NaNoWriMo project. (Well, it was one year ago,
minus 3 days, actually, but I didn’t want to brag.) What a wonderful experience that was: creating a brand new story of 50,000 words in one month. I was petrified at the time, though energized and excited. All in all, it was major blast.
From day one, I was in love with my story (that I named “Maren’s Big Scoop”) along with the funny, big-hearted characters that played around inside my head for a solid month. Recently, I went sifting through my Facebook posts from last November, to kind of relive when I’d been writing about Maren and Patrick and all their tomfoolery. What an amazing time that was for me, and what a perfect way to prepare for my future writing projects. Of course, last November, I had no idea that I would soon be under contract to write two more stories for the fabulous Entangled Publishing’s Bliss cat-rom imprint–namely, “
Playing at Love” (you remember her?) and her upcoming spin-off “Speaking of Love.” I wrote each new story in about three weeks. Without my NaNo experience, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tackle such an ambitious goal.
Color me grateful.
And what is even more thrilling is that–a year later–I am currently editing my sweet “Maren’s Big Scoop,” preparing her for submission. And, ya know what, I’m just as head-over-heels in love with my characters and story as I was a year ago. I can’t wait for the world to meet these people and follow them on their ride.
So, cheers to you, NaNo. Thank you. You almost killed me, but I am forever grateful.
And an extra cheers to all the fab writers out there who are winding down on this years’ NaNo. Congrats and let the celebrating begin!
Ophelia London 