I can’t believe we’re already halfway through NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)! You must be wondering what I’ve been up to. Have I been participating this year? What am I working on?

I am participating! I am also a REBEL!

For the last few years, I have posted regular updates about my NaNo projects. If you remember my posts from 2018, you’ll know which project I’m working on this year: Book 2 of The Fragrant Trilogy, aka Scents of Exile. I did actually win NaNo in 2018 by writing 51,387 new words for this book in 30 days. I, then, went on to finish the book over the course of the next few months, leaving it at about 130,000 words in total! That means, if I am working on Scents of Exile this NaNoWriMo, I can’t be doing the pure 50,000 new words in a month goal.

I still have a 50,000 word goal for this month but they aren’t all new words. I’ll give a quick run down of what I’ve been doing these last two weeks and where I’m going during the next two weeks.

Week 1 of NaNo: Reread/edited chapters 1-20 of Scents of Exile!

The first couple days of NaNo are somewhat of a blur to me. I was still working on getting the Paperback of Scents of War into stores. But once that was complete, I was able to start rereading what I wrote four years ago. Because, well frankly, I forgot what I wrote. I did start by brainstorming ideas of where the story could go before I actually dove in and found out where I thought it should go 4 years ago. I think that was helpful.

I even wrote a completely new scene that didn’t exist in either the first or second book but was referenced and everyone knew that it had happened. That simple act helped me to see more clearly certain inconsistencies of different characters between the two books. As I re-read book 2, I did some editing but mostly commenting about how it might change in the next draft.

Week 2 of NaNo: Reread/edited chapters 21-29 of Scents of Exile and Started Draft 2!

I finished rereading Scents of Exile on November 9th! There were some really good parts: some that will be saved but others that unfortunately, could not be saved. It’s heart wrenching as an author to say goodbye to scenes you really enjoyed writing and enjoyed reading years later. But that’s part of writing. And you hope that the end result is worth it.

The next day I did more brainstorming and started Draft 2 of Scents of Exile! I created a whole new document so that I can keep track of my word counts more easily. As of Saturday, the 12th, that document contains 4,354 words. These words consist of borrowed ones from Draft 1 and new ones as my characters shift locations and motivations and so forth. I’m starting to dive back in and getting to know my characters again. That feels really good. I’m excited to see where the story goes.

My goal moving forward is to add 3,030 words a day to Draft 2 which will bring me up to 50,000 words by the end of the month. Who knows, I may get crazy and do way more than that, but that is the current goal.

One more thing. . .

I am so incredibly THANKFUL to be able to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year! Last year was really tough for me, as I was practically bed-ridden during that time. Last year was the only year I didn’t make a 50,000 word goal come to fruition. Here’s to being healthy enough to write again!