In November I participated in NaNoWriMo which was a huge step for me.  I don’t, by any means, consider myself a writer of fiction and yet, over the years, I’ve had a few ideas for a novel.  Well, haven’t many people?  But what separates those of us with an idea here and there and those who are novelists is a great deal of hard work, dedication, imagination and much skill.

My story is about a woman, who has lost her center somehow.  It’s been a year of loss all around for her. A divorce, the death of her mother as well as her daughter leaving for university on the other side of the country.  On a whim, she decides to take her 30 days of vacation time and spend them, alone, in an isolated cabin.  She longs to find herself again and decides that time away from everything and everyone just might help her in that pursuit.  My character seems to have taken on a life of her own and is telling her story, her way, and it’s an exciting journey.  Oh there are many words left to write and much editing to do but the seeds of her journey are there.

This  story has been in my heart for close to a year so I jumped, rather fearfully,  into National Novel Writing Month with the intention that it would make me sit down and write this story.  And it did give me a great jump-start.  The goal was 50,000 words between Nov 1st and 30th.  I wrote 10,852 words which at first may seem like a failure and yet it is 10, 831 more words than I had on October 31st!

November came to an end and along came December and, although we keep Christmas to a minimal amount of craziness, it’s still a busy month with making sure everything is ready for winter.  Has all the wood been brought in?  Do we have enough kindling chopped, and if not, are there enough logs in the woodshed to turn into kindling?  Has the battery for the lawn mower been brought into the workshop?  Is the car shelter secure and held down well enough to withstand gale force winds?  Have we found someone to fix the roof?  Is there plenty of sand to throw on the front steps and walkway to keep us from sliding on the ice?  Have we plugged any holes that voles or mice might use to enter the basement?  All of that, and more, and somehow the novel sat in its computer file and words were only being written in my mind or in my journal.

Along came Sarah Potter with a grand idea.  And I have to say it’s a grand idea for two reasons. One, it will get me back on track and 2) it is a winter goal and boy does winter need something!

Sarah has birthed Novel Writing Winter and we are off and running.  Novel Writing Winter runs from Jan 1st through to March 20th and is, as Sarah says: ” a gentler climb”. Today, Sarah shared her trigger sentence and you’ll have to visit her blog to read it.  She asked if we were willing to share ours, so here is mine:

MaryLynn they called her, long before she lost her way.

Now please excuse me while I go write word 10,853!

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