Coming Up for Air

It's November again. More than halfway through it, in fact. I'm about 60% closer to my goal of 50,000 words for the month. After a lot of thinking, I chose an idea for my November novel that I have been rolling around like a root beer barrel in my mouth for years. YEARS. I kept changing my mind about important things, like the setting for the story and the age of my heroine. I decided that the only I'd get past all those choices and just write the dang story was if I did it with the biggest deadline ever.

It hasn't been an easy couple of weeks, but I'm on track to finish on time. I LOVE my story. Even three days into Week Three, I still love my story. My heroine has anger issues and a witty sense of humor (the picture above is who I see in my mind when I'm writing about her). Creepy things are happening to her--mysterious notes arriving, strange noises at the window, getting roped into the drama club. . . .

Fun characters have shown up that I didn't plan for--Aunt Yvonne who works for the FBI, Dewey Culpepper who has a New Orleans accent and walks through walls. There are fun characters I did plan on--Mr. M, the cool chemistry teacher who's promised his students he'll show them how to make dry ice bombs, eleven-year-old Shelby who likes to turn invisible and sneak up on people.

It's not always easy to get the words out, but I'm having a fun time. Just under 20,000 words to go!