This year would’ve been weird and hard even if it weren’t, y’know, 2020. But, since it is 2020, I’ve found myself in a pretty weird situation.
In three days, NaNoWriMo 2020 starts. All in all, even though I’ve done less prep than I wanted to, and even though I’ve no idea whether I’ll be on sick leave again as NaNo starts (working with customers in person is a weird place to be in, currently, in Croatia), I know one thing: some things are certain.
My novel comes out two days before NaNo starts, on October 30th, and the implications haven’t even hit me yet. (Mostly because I’m buried under a pile of typos and weirdass grammar errors my brain makes when writing sex scenes.) In a few days, the amount of longer works I’ve had published will have doubled.* We’ve written the teaser (short) blurb for the second novel in the series yesterday night, and set the date for the first tie-in novella. Shit is official now.
Shit is scary.
Even so, this Sunday, whenever I wake up (and, hopefully, sober up), I’ll be right back at my keyboard, punching away into my beloved 1945, this time with an occult (murder) mystery and (still) stocking-wearing queer ladies. Just thinking about it, my brain starts melting and putting out happy noises.
We probably won’t hold any live write-ins in my hometown this year (cough), but we’ll be sure to meet via video. From my side, I predict a huge amount of whining over English language terminology for shit I’ve never had to think about, as well as a bit of crying over research (because that’s how reading about wars affects my sensibilities).
Publishing shit and writing shit at the same time (especially when they’re the first and second novel in the same series) is not how I envisioned 2020 to go, but I have a hunch most of us could say that for a lot of things this year.
That’s one of the many reasons I’m grateful that NaNo is still here, and that NaNo is not going anywhere. Everyone needs a little writing frenzy in their lives.
If you’re wondering how my last year’s NaNo escapade went, the one when I wrote Johnny’s Girls, follow the purple brick road.
If you’re still having doubts about whether NaNo and you are the right fit, check this piece right here.
And if, like me, you’re stuck between two seemingly impossible tasks—writing a new novel and making sure the recent novel gets published without too many glaring errors, well, hang in there.
I have a feeling 2021 is going to be fun.
*I’m not even going to try fixing grammar in this sentence. We’ll live.
Cover photo by Nyana Stoica on Unsplash.
Vesna Kurilic 