90,607 Words! Now What?

As some of you might already know, I reached my Camp NaNoWriMo goal a day early. It went surprisingly well. In spite of my earlier agonizing, I went ahead with the next few chapters as if I’d already rewritten everything before. It involved a bit of time travel for a few characters, but they’ll figure it out.

So now, I have about 133,000 words of total manuscript and I’m about 65 percent done. Fortunately, I now know my way to the end of the story. That was the best part of the whole experience. I already had a sneaking suspicion that I might be able to create a plot, and doing this confirmed I can even manage it on the fly. I had a few very bad moments of “Argh! This isn’t working!” but I just kept writing until something viable popped into my brain.

I also realized I won’t have to axe Janna altogether; she’ll just join my other female characters in their secondary roles. I just finished Sarah Micklem’s fantastic Firethorn, which made me realize that the lowliest of the low can indeed make things happen in her own way. Camp followers represent! Now I just have to figure out how to write that beautifully. Oh, and stop comparing myself to her, and everyone else. (see Ten Commandments).

Next on the agenda is a complete reorganization before I continue to the end. I’m hoping it won’t take more than a few days. I am very grateful for Scrivener. Otherwise, I’d be doing this on actual 3 x 5 cards!

Once I’ve determined what needs to be rewritten and how, I’ll probably do that before writing anything new. With any luck at all, I’ll have a chapter or two ready to go to beta readers before all the leaves dry up and blow away.

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