NaNoWriMo: The Continuing Voyage of the Grissom

Look back at Blog One – a good journey for the novel and novelist?

Yes! I did what I set out to do and a little more. This story is one I’ve been pondering for far too long. To see it finally reach first draft form, as full of holes and questions and problems still to be solved as it is, is an absolutely wonderful feeling. In a very real sense a first draft is pretty close to having a dream come true. Which begs the question, what might a second and a third draft be? Guess I’ll have to find out!

Did you enjoy the experience?

Absolutely. I love to write. I haven’t been doing enough of it the last year. It was hard for me to get back in the rhythm of writing regularly, but I managed it.

Now November is over, when do you think you’ll revisit your NaNo novel again?

I’m going to take advantage of your evaluation offer, send that in, and let Voyage gel for a bit. I have an ailing novel, Everything We Had, first in the trilogy I mentioned in my first blog, that I want to get into final draft form. If I can solve a problem with introducing my main character in the first chapter (Jack Davis, the grandfather of “Stroker” Davis in Voyage) then I ought to be able to finish that up fairly easily. I hope. (!)

How many words do you see your final manuscript being?

I’m thinking somewhere between 70,000 to 80,000. I’m going to have to insert a few more scenes and round out some minor characters, as well as reworking the character of Major Collins. Major Collins emerged as the tool of the Big Bad Guy, Undersecretary of Defense Cramer, and that alone is going to add a couple of thousand words to the story.

Do you have any advice you could pass on to others who are considering entering NaNoWriMo 2014?

NaNoWriMo provides the sort of motivation that can kick you over the line from “wannabe” and “maybe someday” to “now”. A lot of people respond to the idea of a competition, and even though at first glance 50,000 words sounds daunting, the truth is that it really isn’t, or need not be, once you’re into it. Setting a word count goal gives you a solid objective, and if you reach that objective, you’re a finalist. You earn a sense of accomplishment. Even if your story is terrible (a very subjective appraisal) that sense of accomplishment is a step towards the next level, which is learning to discern what your story really is, and how to make it better. You cannot learn that if you do not write.

And buddy, if you take NaNoWriMo seriously, you will write!

And finally … would you do it again?!

I’ve been a finalist every year since 2004. Would I do it again? I’m looking forward to November 1, 2014. I haven’t the faintest idea what I might want to write eleven months from now, or exactly what I’ll write in the meantime, other than the plans I describe above. But getting to the end of NaNoWriMo, for me, is sort of like Christmas or Boxing Day. You look forward to it, when it finally comes around it’s over too quickly, but then there’s next year. I’d like to think that even if I accomplish the goals I set out in my first blog for Writers & Artists, being able to support myself by writing full-time, I’d still do NaNoWriMo. Maybe I could even afford one of those cool Winner t-shirts!

Finally, I’d like to say thanks to James, Ellie, Roz, and my fellow bloggers Kylie, Suky, Rhiannon, Chris and Janet. Thanks for asking me here, thanks for being here, and best of luck in your future endeavors.

For more on NaNoWriMo and to follow our other writers, please take a look here.