What I’m Doing This Month So That Next Month I Can Write a Novel
You may be surprised how I’m spending some of my time
Photo by Aneta Pawlik on Unsplash
Hang onto your granny panties. Next month I’m writing a short novel. One blog post at a time.
I am participating in the BYOB (Blog Your Own Book) Challenge hosted on The Write Brain by founder Shaunta Grimes. Here are the details of the challenge if you are interested.
For me, this challenge is a particular stretch. I have been a non-fiction writer for more than thirty years, as in, I do it for a living. I have written four non-fiction guidebooks and thousands of articles on travel spread across both print and online publications.
I wrote about the possibility of writing a book in published pieces last fall, including some of what I thought could go wrong. I am about to spend a few months fact-checking all of what I said here.
Wanna follow along and feel the pain of a good stretch with me? It would be great to have you either join the challenge yourself or follow my progress. It may be brutal. Here’s what I am doing this month to get ready.
Re-reading
I tend to read fiction in spurts. Like my writing, my primary reading is non-fiction. But this month I am dedicating time every day to reading fiction. The catch is that I am re-reading multiple books that I have already enjoyed. The reason is that reading fiction is usually for fun. As a reader, I am there to zone out in a good story. By re-reading, I already know the story and can focus on the mechanics of how the writer held me captive the first time.
I will also be reading everything Shaunta posts during the challenge. She’s our professional guide up the mountain. I wouldn’t dream of setting out without her.
Researching
This part is easy for me. It’s what I do. If there’s one thing I am good at, it’s researching. What I am researching for the BYOB Challenge includes a deep dive on Amazon looking for books similar to what I plan to write. How have they done? What is different about them from what I have planned? Can I improve on them when I write mine? I also need to know everything I can about formatting, plotting, and producing a successful short novel to be published on Amazon since that’s what I plan to do with mine.
Writing
My goal this month is to write about some of those things I am researching. Writing is how I learn. I find that if I am forced to take my research and squeeze it into the confines of a written post as if I am teaching what I know to someone else, I gain far greater clarity myself. Hopefully, something I uncover along the way will be of assistance to you as well.
Getting ahead on my other projects
I’m that writer that gets easily distracted by things around me. It doesn’t take much to pull me away from the chair. I have a ceramic tile floor grout cleaning project underway plus a patio painting project. I swear to you that they will take on a life of their own — screaming at me to come and play in the paint or to break out the badass steamer I’m using on the floor if I don’t get them finished this month. And then there’s that pesky income tax thing I put off because they IRS said I could.
Add to all of that my commitment to continue writing for The Writing Cooperative and I have a lot to get wrapped up before August arrives.
Plotting and outlining
The story is already coming together in my head, but until I can get it laid out, I can’t be sure if all the parts will fit neatly into thirty-one posts. I will be sharing how I’m handling all of this as we go.
Writing character summaries
I think I know my characters, but I intend to spend some time adding all the quirks that make characters come to life. This is where my re-reading should help the most, I think.
Typing other people’s words
Here’s where it gets weird for most people. I wrote about this last December.
I firmly believe that the act of typing words someone else wrote pre-programs my brain for writing in the same form. I’ve done this often with publications I have never written for. If I can, I find something written by the editor I am working with and type away. It allows me to hear that editor’s voice in my head far more clearly than if I simply read the work.
Will it work for this project? We shall see, won’t we?
Wrapping my head around the whole damn thing
This scares me and I am not easily scared. What if the writing sucks? The good news is that this is essentially a first draft I will be sharing. First drafts are supposed to suck, aren’t they? I sincerely hope you’ll let me know.
Here’s a bit of insider info:
The title of my novel includes the word “Accomplice,” which also happens to be the title of this newsletter. Free subscribers will get all of the posts about writing the novel in their inbox as they are written. Paid subscribers also get each chapter of the novel as they come out.