As it’s November, and the month for NaNoWriMo, I decided I’d use that to try and get my writing routine—and output—back into what used to be what I’d call normal, at least for me.

I’m not aiming to write 50K. With working fulltime and my other commitments that’s an unnecessary stress I don’t need. Not to mention, unless I cut down on sleep, and I can’t afford to do that, it’s not going to happen.

So far so good. I’m happy with what I’ve achieved so far this month. As I write this, I’m approaching 10K, and probably will have passed that by the time I post. I’m aiming for between 15 and 20K for November, and that will make me happy. Very happy considering I’ve got so much I want to write, and I’ve had months passing when I haven’t even been able to get a chapter written.

I’ve changed tack and writing on my weekends, and using the hour I have before work for the other stuff on deadlines like book reviews, and this post. At least that way if my fiction is flowing, I don’t have to stop when I’ve barely got going. That’s so frustrating and happens far too often.

I’m also trying to get ahead on those deadlines. I’ve had a couple of months in a row when I was writing those the day before they were due which is far too close to the bone. All I needed was a phone call heralding a hospital run—which happens far too often these days—and everything would go to custard.

Usually when I write, I write a chapter, and then go back and edit. In the spirit of NaNo I’m not doing that this month. I’m just writing, making notes of where I need to verify for continuity and keeping going. I have had to stop and research for details that affect what direction the plot goes in, but for the smaller stuff I’ve just [insert whatever here] and managed to leave it till later. So far, I’m getting a lot more written that way, so given how the rest of the month goes, I might do that in future.

So far, I’ve managed to do what I need for my turn for The Harp and the Sea which I’ll be sending back to my co-author, Lou Sylvre, once NaNo is finished and I have time to edit. She’s knee deep in writing too, so that works out well as I have to let it sit before sending it back.

With that done, my main project for NaNo is Forgotten in Fire, book 2 of Dragons of Astria although I haven’t noted that as my NaNo novel. I’m enjoying getting back to these guys, although I suspect I will be filling out a lot of what I’ve written once I’ve got their story down. It’s been too long coming…

And the other bit of editing I’ll need to do in December is my short story A Case of Misdirection. This one is for my newsletter which is way overdue. The main character Danny Sullivan has been nagging for his 1920s detective series for a while, so I’m placating him with a few short newsletter stories in the meantime. So for now it’s 1920, and a vampire walks into his office…