National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and me

I may be writing fewer posts during the month of November, not because I am at all tired of blogging, but because I have decided to write a novel during the month of November, and have registered with National Novel Writing Month in order to help make this a reality.You can check out their website at http://www.nanowrimo.org/en

I've written over 8000 words so far, toward a final goal of 50,000 words. It sounds daunting and perhaps it will be. So far it's been fun; I've done a fair amount of research already to help me get started, but I already had the pictures in my head of where in the world it will take place and how it should look. I was pleasantly surprised to find a 3D representation of the area in the world I want to write about nicely presented by Google Earth, of all things. The world feels like a much smaller place when you can learn what you need to learn about another country online. And so far, what I've learned has actually given me the desire to travel to that country.

I would like to reveal what I am writing about, but have decided to wait with this until I am almost finished with the novel. I have to be finished by the end of November in order to be eligible to win. I'll keep you posted. I can say that it is my first foray into the world of sci-fi/horror, but for those of you who know me, this may not be surprising. I checked out my idea on internet, and surprisingly I have not found anyone who has written anything about this before, so who knows? Whatever happens, I'm excited about my new project and confident that I am capable of doing this. I have not had that much confidence before when it came to my writing, even though I have (self) published two books before. One of those books actually sells, and that is a nice surprise and bonus for me--an incentive to keep writing.

I don't want to follow the old rules anymore. I don't want anarchy, but I feel that the traditional ways of doing research and publishing move too slowly for me. The future belongs to those who use internet and social media sites. It is possible to learn a whole lot about marketing your books and creative work online, if you only take the time to do so. CreateSpace, Amazon, online press releases, a personal website, a Twitter account, are just a few of the things that can help you create and market your work online. And of course if you write e-books, you're already halfway there. People do download e-books just like they download Kindle books. The future is here, and there is a lot of reward (and fun) to be had in embracing it.