Writing Wednesday || NaNoWriMo Planning Check-In

Can you believe that NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow? I almost can’t, but here we are! New year, new project, new Pinterest board, and NEW PANIC.

Isn’t November the best?

I think I’ve settled on my project at least, and I’ve been consuming all kinds of paranormal lit in preparation. I’ve also been trying to find time to plan it out around school, but I’m probably going into NaNo with a very skinny outline, which might be trouble. Still, though we’re going to give it a shot.

Anyways, my project is called Fletch and Bone for now, and I figured I’d treat you all to the tentative summary!

 

“A girl, a skeleton cat, and a devil walk into a graveyard.

All Kate Fletcher wants to do is pass her anatomy class and make it through senior year of high school. After that, she can be free of Purgatory Springs and everything that comes with it. That’s all she’s ever asked for, growing up in a small town that loves Halloween way too much.

But then a skeleton pries itself free in her backyard, and dissections start to go wrong. Shadows flit through the Purgatory Springs streets, and rumor has it that the football team made a pact with a demon, while the marching band is being haunted half to death. Nothing is right, everything is headed to hell in a hand basket, and if the bones of Kate’s childhood cat are to be believed, then it’s up to her to set it all right.

No pressure. She just has to do it by Halloween, which is, y’know, her birthday.

Everything’s going to be fine.

Right?”

 

Sounds like fun, right? At least, I’m hoping so. I’ve been looking forward to this project for a while because even though I don’t like Halloween (I know, absolutely blasphemous to say that TODAY OF ALL DAYS, but shhh), it is loaded with opportunity for a ton of very bad puns, and I THRIVE on bad puns. It’s just how it is. It’s also a chance for me to get a little out of my comfort zone and write something other than straight up fantasy. Were it not for all the paranormal goings on, this project would technically qualify as a contemporary. Amazing!

Thankfully, even if my outline is on the slim side, I have a calendar so I can stay on top of my word count for each day. Pacemaker.press is basically my best friend for writing projects, and it really helps to keep me on target more than the official NaNo word count thingy does. It lets me vary how much I write day to day, and to account for days where I’m so busy with school or travel that I don’t have time to write. Seriously, it’s a lifesaver, and if you want to see an example, you’re welcome to check out my plan here!

Based on my plan, by the time I write my next NaNo update for you guys, I should be at 10,642 words! That sets a pretty good pace for that first week, I think.

In addition to Pacemaker, though, I of course have a Pinterest board for my project! I’m not on Pinterest often, but do pop in now and again to add things to my boards, and the Fletch and Bone board has been particularly fun. You can check that out here, though if you’re squeamish, be aware that there are some bones and things.

And finally, I have my novel officially declared on the NaNo site! That also means that you’re more than welcome to add me as a writing buddy, and time allowing, I’d love to maybe do some word sprints? Find me here, and if you add me, just send me a message telling me how you found me!

 

Good luck to all of you also doing NaNo, and to those of you not participating, I hope you still have fun checking in on those of us that are! All things going well, there should be some exciting new fiction in the world when the month is over, which is totally the best part of the event. Can’t wait to get started, and I’ll be more active again here on the blog in December!