Before I got back into writing, I was excited to take part in National Novel Writing Month… until I learned that it was shut down due to its embrace of Artificial Intelligence in writing and connections to predatory practices. Yikes!
The spirit of the initiative is still present with writers still deciding to write within the same parameters, so I thought I would join in on the flavors and prospects of creative writing even though the original non-profit has dismantled.
The goal of taking on this challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel each November, which translates to approximately 1,667 words per day. Preparation for the writing would begin in October, then the race to finish would commence in November.
Even though I am working like mad on my current novel Eclipse, it is definitely not destined to be 50,000 words, and occasionally I do feel pressure and burnout as I write vigorously every day to dish out a few thousand words while AI chokes out 50,000 within minutes.
That said, I want to be a part of this challenge so that I can overcome writer’s block and persuade myself that I will have nothing without a first draft. I am doing better worrying less about my outputs, but I still occasionally freeze and get caught in perfecting little bits of writing here and there when the meat and potatoes still need work.
I’m leaning toward experimenting with a horror story related to dolls. While thrifting, I came across a spectacular, deliciously creepy book called The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Dolls Volume Two by Dorothy S. Coleman, and it has some of the most thrilling and chilling photographs and illustrations of dolls. I wonder how I can incorporate something from that book into a 50,000 word tale.
