My eighth book, and the first one I published, came about almost by accident. I'd always fancied writing a book about scuba diving, but never quite had enough of a plot to justify it. Then in October, chance took me horse riding in the mountains of Egypt's South Sinai. It turned out my two companions also enjoyed writing—one was in the midst of a memoir, the other was a journalist. They were the first people in real life I'd ever told about my writing. Nope, at that point I'd written seven novels, and none of my family knew. My boyfriend just thought I spent an awful lot of time on Facebook. After a couple of hours chatting about plots and plans, I came up with an idea for a romantic suspense novel, based in Egypt and centred around diving. Now all I had to do was write it.
As luck would have it, I returned from my holiday a couple of weeks before NaNoWriMo was due to start. I'd barely heard of it before then, but a few online acquaintances were taking part, and I thought I might as well give it a go. 50,000 words in thirty days sounded daunting—I'd never written that fast before. The first book took me closer to a year. I spent all my time between then and November thinking about what I was going to write, and at midnight on the 1st I picked up my iPad and started tapping away.
Nine days and 65,000 words later, I finished.
Sure, I'd had no sleep and I had RSI and a backlog at work, but I bloody did it.
During those nine restless days and nights, I discovered the joys of writing to a deadline. While some people might dread it, I found it made me focus. Or maybe panic was a better word for it. But there's nothing like writing with the support of others all in the same boat, trying to achieve the same thing. The little word counter on the NaNoWriMo website acted as encouragement as I typed, and the forums allowed me to chat when I needed a break, as well as asking any stupid questions when I thought of them.
If you haven't had a go at NaNoWriMo, I'd definitely suggest it. Your first draft isn't going to be perfect, but having something imperfect and finished is a hundred times better than having three chapters crafted to a standard that would cause editors to weep with joy.
NaNoWriMo run three sessions a year, with smaller “Camps” in April and July. If you need an extra push to write that move, what are you waiting for?
TiP is your eighth book? What’s books 1-7?
Which series do you like best; Trouble, Blackwood US or Blackwood UK? Do you have any other series that we haven’t seen yet?
I wrote the first seven Blackwood Security books first, before I wrote Trouble in Paradise.
I think I’ll always like Blackwood US best, because Emmy is my favourite character to write. Every time I write one of her sections, it’s like having a conversation with an old friend.
I do have another series planned out, four books long, but I haven’t had time to write that one yet. Maybe I’ll start with the first book this year…
Hellooooo
I’m spending some time exploring your website, I hadn’t had time before.
I’m thinking of doing the July NaNoWriMo, as the November and April ones would be impossible because of school. Do you generally start writing with everything planned out, or just write as you come up with subplots? Or is it more in between?
Byee
It depends – the first time I did NaNoWriMo was with Trouble in Paradise, and I plotted that one properly first, chapter by chapter. I overdid it a bit and finished in 9 days. Then on impulse, I thought I’d write a second book, Red Alert, so I plotted and wrote that in the same month.
My second attempt, I wrote Trouble Rides Again and White Hot, and I plotted both of those beforehand.
My third go, I wasn’t going to do NaNoWriMo at all, but I got halfway through the month and found myself with some spare time. So I plotted and wrote Roses Are Dead in six days 🙂