Write On Wednesday

This week's Write on Wednesday concerns National Novel Writing Month:

Although I’m taking this year off from NaNoWriMo, I’ll be here on the sidelines cheering on all the participants as they pound the keyboard in their race to the finish line.

So, how about you? If you’ve done NaNoWriMo, what was the experience like for you? If you’ve never done it, do you think you could? Do you have a novel residing in you somewhere, waiting to get out?

This will be my first year participating in National Novel Writing Month and I am very much looking forward to it. I may be moaning and groaning by Thanksgiving, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Although I have written 50,000+ words before, it is always a daunting task. I currently have several novel residing in me, it's just getting them out and onto paper.

In the Writer's Workshop I am getting ready to complete, my teacher says the most important thing is to get the words/book onto paper. Once you have the basic idea written, then you can go back and begin the editing process. He says everything you write should go through at least 3 different editing processes. So, my goal for November is to write the novel that has been poking at my brain for over a year.

Last year, there was a story in my local newspaper - The Harrodsburg Herald - about a baby skeleton found in a trunk a woman's attic. This woman had been a Registered Nurse for over 40 years, but was now suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. She had been moved to a nursing home and her family was cleaning her home out when they found the skeleton.

For months I have had questions about this skeleton: Where did it come from? Was it her baby? Was is a stolen baby from the hospital nursery? It was later determined that the skeleton was approximately 45 years old, but no other information was available.

This lady has since died, so the secret has died with her, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about the skeleton. My objective is to write a fictional novel and try to answer these questions. I may be way off base, but it has been fun thinking of suituations to add to the story.

With any luck, by the end of November, I should have the first rough draft. Wish me luck!