Finishing NaNoWriMo But Not The Novel

Fireworks against a black night sky
Finishing NaNoWriMo is always a great feeling! Each time I manage to cross that finish line, I feel like a "real writer"--whatever that means. This year, though, I may have finished the month, but I have yet to finish the novel.

The manuscript I'm working on is called Blood Tramp Blues, and it follows a hitchhiker who is suddenly confronted with the cosmic indifference of the universe when she's saved from a lovecraftian monster by a woman with powers via blood sacrifice--the eponymous Blood Tramp. And it's 54,000 words in with four fat chapters to go (they might have to be split into more--we'll see).

I'm trying to explore what we do when faced with cosmic indifference. Most people assume that facing your own insignificance leads inevitably to destructive nihilism, but I disagree. I ascribe more to the optimistic nihilist's perspective: so what if there's no meaning? That gives me ultimate control over what I decide has meaning in my life.

I also wanted to explore my main character's fraught relationship with her (now deceased) parents, specifically how trying to find and quell this great evil gives her clarity on the insignificance of her childhood abuse, thus freeing her from her trauma.

This story was never going to be simple or easy, and I already have a laundry list of issues to fix in the next draft, but still I carry on! I estimate I have another 36k or so words before this draft is finished, and the writing is getting better the more I know the characters. The next draft will be a heavy one with a lot of work, but I feel like I'm laying a good foundation here.

That said, I've decided to renew my NaNo commitment into December with a goal of 2k words a day instead of 1667--at least until I finish this draft. If you'd like to follow my progress, I've found a little word count widget and put it in my sidebar to replace the NaNo one! So that's fun.

If you're a writer and would like to use a similar word widget, I found mine here. I recommend playing with the settings and getting a feel for the (relatively simple) code, if you're going to use it.

Also, I've been listening to a lot of interesting instrumental mixes while I write, and if you're interested in enjoying the same moodspace, here are some links:

Finally, I'm thinking of reworking my website in a month or so (when I'm finished with my manuscript and a couple other projects). I don't mind doing the legwork myself, but building a website from scratch seems intimidating! Wordpress seems like it might be a valuable platform to learn, but I have no idea where to start.

If anyone has any suggestions for hosting, site builders, or educational resources, I'd be super grateful to hear them!

Until next time.

See you, space cowboy...

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