Call me later. I’m plotting a murder.

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and as a participant in the NaNoWriMo Challenge, I will be attempting to write the first draft of a novel (at least 50,000 words) in ONE month.

“But it took you over a year to write the last one,” my inner-critic says.

“Live and learn,” my inner dancing hippie replies.

When I began writing my character-driven, apocalyptic sci-fi (the one that took over a year to finish) I was not prepared. My plot line was weak, my character development was poor, and my devotion to the project was pathetic (up until this past summer, when I finally buckled down and got it done). There were entire weeks—even months—when I didn’t work on my novel at all.

Because of poor planning, I had to re-write, add, revise, and edit, over and over again, to correct all of the problems and to fill in the holes. If I would have planned better, and if I did not sacrifice my writing time to other volunteer work, I could have finished that novel in a much shorter period of time.

So here’s to novel number three!  The first was a mess—don’t ask. The second was much better, and maybe even good enough for publication if I can ever get it out the door (almost there).  The third time’s a charm, right?

In preparation, I’ve been developing characters—right down to the contents of their fictional refrigerators.  I’ve been plotting motives, settings, backstory, and filling in the holes of the plot line.

If you ask me this month what I’m doing, I’ll reply, “I’m plotting a murder.”

I am determined—come November 1—to write every day, and to have a finished first draft by November 30. I hope that with all of this preparation, this novel won’t require as much editing and revision as the last book.

So don’t ask me to do anything in November! I’m busy…every day.