Plodding onward, but happy with the progress

No, I probably won't hit my NaNo goal.

BUT, I will have a novel that I can actually write. And sell, more importantly. So this is a good thing.

You know, I've done NaNo for three years now. I've never finished. And yet, NaNo has contributed to most of the writing I've done. The first year, I started Horseman - got about 18k done.

The second year, I was working on the rewrite of Horseman (doing the unofficial NaNo on FM) and got 46k written by month-end.

This year, I'm working on Seasons and, after all my rewrites and hair-pulling, will probably hit 20k by the time the clock chimes on November 30th.

Not great.

But not bad either. While I'm not approaching Zette's one-million words a year, I'm definitely upping my goals. And thinking about next year already.

I have a new white board in our office - my loving husband mounted it on the wall for me. It has three novels on it, and three first draft dates:

Belladonna Dreams: Jan. 1, 2006
Dark Moon Seasons: April 1, 2006
Treaty of Betrayal: October 1, 2006

These are rough draft dates. There's room separating each novel, so other dates can be added. Second draft dates, novel send out dates and, at some point, novel release dates.

I'm moving into a new phase, I'm thinking. January 1 starts the point where I stop playing at being an author, and start working like one. Yes, I'll still have my day job. But I'm going to be more serious about my other day job. Do more signings. Write more. Definitely write more.

The new year is looking mighty interesting...