Finish Line

There have been highs and lows while working on my NaNoWriMo novel. The novel has three different types of scenes: Nikolas and Simone scenes, flashback scenes, and Simone and Thomas scenes.

The hardest ones to write were the Simone and Thomas scenes. He is her current boyfriend and I wanted to make him seem like a viable option to Nik. I wanted Thomas to be sensitive, attentive, and almost too good to be true. But every time I tried to write him he bored the hell out of me.

What can I say? I was rooting for Nik from the get go!

The modern day Nik and Simone scenes in the early part of the novel were a snap to write. But, far and away, the most fun I had were writing the flashback scenes. Nik and Simone dated in the late eighties. So I got to have them wear acid washed jeans, be huge fans of the song Boderline by Madonna, and sport Member Only jackets. They could say “Totally rad!” and “Like awesome!” The whole thing cracked me up!

The best part about NaNoWriMo is the freedom. I would never write

And then pirates flew out of the butt of the giant green ape sitting in the middle of Times Square.

But I could have if I wanted to! Because NaNo is about quantity and not quality.

And the freedom did give me the chance to throw in scenes of them being overly emotional, cryptic, rude, criminal and whatever else I could dream up without wondering if an editor would approve. I want to write all my novels like I do my NaNoWriMo novels but the internal editor shrieks at me so I end up second guessing myself.

Today I crossed the 50,000 word finish line. It felt amazing. I made my goal and gave myself added faith in my abilities.


If you did not do NaNoWriMo this year I suggest you become a participant in 2007. Like Simone circa 1987 would say, “It is like, oh my god, so totally awe-some!”