OhNoNaNo

I've participated in NaNoWriMo since 2002. I've won every year except 2004, where there were extenuating circumstances (bad breakup, family trouble, etc.), with a variety of stories and genres.

(By "win" I mean "hit 50,000 words" - I didn't really win anything, although I've made friends.)

Even last year, in the midst of a truly hellish work environment, I kicked out 60,000+ words on Shadow of Erebus, a supernatural Arctic adventure...

So why is this year so hard?

I sat down today and churned out two thousand words on The Mortal Coil and just sat there hating every moment of it. I hadn't given myself permission to stop because I'm not a quitter; I saw some glimpses of the story I wanted to tell, but the rest of it...blegh. It just wasn't working. The few good words I was getting in October stood alone.

A couple of hours ago I started on something new. Just a silly sci fi story. Chapter one is a jailbreak. Bam, two thousand words.

This one has more of a plotline to work from - I at least know where I'm sending my characters - though I don't know much beyond it. Anyway, it seems fun and breezy and not at all the downer that Mortal Coil was turning into...and maybe I need something fun and happy to work on.

(Last year's novel, Shadow of Erebus, was about as dark and depressing a story as I've ever written. It's a sequel to another dark, depressing story...maybe I've just been in a funk?)

It has no title. The characters are using "borrowed" names until I figure out what to call them. It's definitely space opera, as opposed to hard sf (which I find utterly boring). Typical lightspeed, dashing to planets, banking in space type stuff. Haven't decided if they use lasers or missiles yet. No lightsabers, but that's only because George Lucas would sue me.

On that note, if turbolasers really existed, I'd mount a set on my car and clear the 55 each morning. It would make for a more pleasant commute.