NaNoWriMo 2017 - Followup (A forgotten post)

I did it!

50,046 words in a novel I decided to write for NaNoWriMo 2017. I started this adventure doubting I would achieve that goal and I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled it out of the bag on the final day, to limp across the finish line.

Here's the synopsis I wrote back in October 2017 for the book and the cover that I had designed by a nice lady in Brazil.

The Sirrupa family run it all. From High-quality imports to addictive “street” products. Nothing comes into the country without their knowledge, at least that had been the case until now. An underground movement rebelling against this monopoly will go to any lengths to undermine the Sirrupa domination of the market. The Sirrupa Family also influence power within the Police, Government and food retail, making any disruption to the market nigh impossible.

One man is about to change all this. Known as the Lichfield Ice Cream King to his underground followers, Spencer to his friends, he has been planting the seeds of a confectionary revolution for several years. This Christmas, he plans to take the Family down once and for all. No longer will the public be forced to pay over the odds for their custard creams and bonbons, their eclairs and Pain au chocolat.

A sweet revolution is coming.

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So that was what I set out to write and for the most part, it followed that path. As I hadn't planned out where the story was going or what it wanted to achieve (other than the synopsis above), it took on a life of its own.

The Writing

I was not looking forward to the task of finding time in the evenings and weekends to write 1,680 words a day, as two young kids and a family always takes priority. But I did have an understanding wife who afforded me as much time as possible to write and had my permission to beat me with the proverbial stick when I was slacking off. That helped massively!

So here are the stats for the month, showing the total word count and the words written each day (I was pretty religious about noting these down!):

I tried desperately to remain on target each day and it was going pretty well until about halfway through. A work emergency wiped me out one whole day's work, a few days were just not productive at all and some were just off the charts. 

Progress started out really well and I got ahead in the first couple of days, then things developed into a rhythm. I have to say, writing so much each night after a full day in the office and two screaming kids wanting attention was a great escape. 

Did I finish it?

Simply put, No. The story has a way to go, so I expect that the final word count will be closer to 70k before it's complete. I do want to finish the manuscript, but it's had to take a back seat for a while. 

What next?

I haven't touched the manuscript since November, as I had to set aside time in December to build a project for a neighbour and of course Christmas popped in there too. January wasn't much better, with our snowboarding holiday to Canada in the middle. I couldn't commit to the Revision promise either, so the manuscript has been languishing in development hell. 

The problem I have at the moment is that I want to do too many things. My YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/beakz) got a massive amount of views on a woodworking project I uploaded and I want to keep the ball rolling on that. It makes more money than a book does!

I know money isn't everything, but if there was enough income from that, then I could reduce my working hours and have a day a week to write or produce more content. 

More on NaNoWriMo coming soon (2018 is just ahead of us!)