The Fourth Attempt

Yesterday was the first day of my fourth attempt as a participant of NANOWRIMO. Now, as a review for those of us new to this blog, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Basically we--me and thousands of people all over the world--attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  Four years ago was my first attempt, and I succeeded. The last two years have been failures: 5,000 words (massive fail) and 12,000 (slightly less massive, but still a fail).

This year I enter NaNoWriMo with even more than the usual amazing support from my husband, a fresh approach to the idea of writing a novel, and the decision to try a young adult novel this time.  So far I've achieved my daily writing quota for both Nov. 1 and 2. (I'm on a roll!)  I'm liking that I feel less pressured because I am writing a young adult novel. Is it strange that I feel I can give them what they would want to read? Not really, I spend the majority of my time around young adults and I thoroughly enjoy reading young adult novels.  This makes perfect sense.


I recently put a shout-out on Facebook for ideas on what characters in my novel could inherit from a deceased relative. The response was overwhelming (thanks to everyone who responded). Here is a sampling of the comments:
- a stapler 
- a pocket watch that has a secret compartment that you stumble across and it has some folded up secret in the compartment 
- a complete collection of orchestral instruments 
- a mysterious map 
- rolls of film that the relative never had developed
- Some clue to that ancestor's secret past life. Like, before grandma took up knitting, she was the first female secret service agent and she protected Abe Lincoln from the vampires. Her exploding cufflinks, complete with civil war era insignia, are all that's left to tell the tale...
- Super old stock certificates. 
- Ben's response to the above suggestion: "Holy crap! We got a bunch of money!" That's only 8 words, she needs 50,000 
- it would be fun if it was something completely unconventional and useless. It could be the Holy Grail. It could be an empty cigar box. It could be a key to his supervillain lair. It could be a phone number, and when she dials it, the payphone beside her rings and she declares it worthless, until... 
- a clarinet, and inside the case is a secret compartment... 
- a shrunken head, duh. 
- an abnormally large head...wait, that's my novel!
 - a vineyard 
- a leprechaun in a Tupperware
- Excalibur 
- webbed toes

After two days of writing, I still don't know exactly what they're going to inherit. But as you can see, I've got a few ideas to play with.

NANOWRIMUPDA: Word count: 3631  Emotional Status: Positive and happy  News: I may post some excerpts on the blog in the next week