Hiatus (Sort of)

I won't be blogging much in the month of November because I'm going to be writing a novel.

A whole novel? In the month of November?

That's right. Actually it's only 50,000 words (most modern commercial fiction runs about 80-120,000 words, for comparison) but yes, it must be completed by November 30th.

Why?

Why not? November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short.) If you've never heard of it before, check out the website; it's a hoot, especially the FAQ page (be sure to read all the sections; they've broken it up so it doesn't go on for three years, but some of the funniest bits are in the Rules, Community and Technology sections.) If you are familiar with it, go check it out again anyway; it's still funny as hell.

I did this last year, had a blast, and completed a very funny murder mystery that I self-published and sell out of my office. I still have to get around to marketing it to my community (it's got lots of local references) but it's selling even without being on Amazon.

One woman who read it sent me a note telling me she was looking forward to reading more about my hero's adventures. That's when I got the idea to take the same hero (he's sort of a buffoonish caricature, as were all my other "characters") through all the different genres of fiction. So this year I'm trying my hand at a thriller: an intentional spoof of The DaVinci Code. I'm a little worried about what they call the "Sophomore Smack-Down"; apparently the second year is the hardest. But starting tomorrow, 1667 words a day minimum is my goal. Blogging will have to come second.

I'll keep you posted, if anyone gives a shit. Otherwise, see you in December.