NaNoWriMo
Hey, everyone! (Waves) Sorry I haven’t been active on here. Still not relief from the headache, though I’m holding out hope that the botox will still work or acupuncture will at at the very least… I’m trying my best to keep writing as much as I can, which is why I challenged myself to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this year.
For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a bunch of people who all try to complete a 50,000 word novel in a month. Those of you who’ve read UnConventional or In/Exhale know that 50,000 words is barely half a story for me, so I set myself that even more challenging goal of getting a complete 75,000 word draft done by the end of November.
So far I’m definitely on task to make it to about 75K by Nov 30, but the way the story is moving I’m not sure that’ll be a complete draft. So far it’s feeling a little like UnConventional in that it’s falling into three parts, perhaps of about 30K each, which would leave the draft at about 90K. (UnConventional is about 100K.)
Anyway, the only way to write at this kind of pace, especially with my headache limiting my productivity, is to write fast and dirty without really looking back. But I wanted to share a little about this project with you all for those of you who are interested.
The Project
My headache makes me very light sensitive, so for the past ten months or so I’ve been living like a vampire without a daylight ring–keeping all the blinds closed all the time and only turning on a light when I absolutely have to. In the process, I’ve gotten very good at getting around in semidarkness, doing things, from preparing my husband’s to-go cups in the morning to cooking and cleaning and everything in between.
As a result of that, and some inspiration from a TV show (and one of the story blog stories, Footsteps), I started thinking a lot about what it would be like if I had a character who was blind or had low vision. The seed was planted, and the more I thought about the idea, the more excited I got. I’m an extremely visual person and writer, and tackling the story of someone for whom vision isn’t a primary sense felt like a fun and new challenge. As depressing as this whole headache situation has been, it felt like exactly what I needed. Something fresh and new and different with nothing to lose.
And so Love Unseen was born.
The story is about Jackson Santoro, a thirty-something history professor living in New Orleans. Because he was born premature, he has mild CP and has been blind his entire life, but he’s not totally blind. He’s able to see colors and some shapes, but he relies more on his other senses to orient himself in the world. He’s an introvert who’s only friends are his older sister, Lyn, who just got married and moved out of the house, and his seeing eye dog, Molly.
Jackson soon finds himself with the supposedly straight and ridiculously sexy roommate, Dan Oldendorf, and despite all logic, Jackson begins to fall for him. There’s nothing harder than falling for someone you think you can’t have, right?
An Excerpt
Here’s a scene from the very much work-in-progress. Keep in mind that the final version may differ enormously, and this doesn’t have my usual polish because I’m trying to wait to revise until I have the draft finished. But it should give you a taste of the two main characters.
Please go to the next page to read it —->>
Share:
5 Responses to NaNoWriMo 2015