The first few thousand words, I wrote carefully. I didn’t know my characters. I didn’t know their story.
Between ten and twenty-five thousand words, the writing became more expansive. I worried less about figuring out where the story was going and more on letting it go.
Once I made it to the other side of twenty-five thousand, I began writing with abandon. I could see that the story would not be finished at fifty thousand words, as new elements of the plot and character revealed themselves at unexpected and inexplicable moments. I stopped trying to figure out my novel; all I wanted to do is get it out.
It has now been almost two full months since I even looked at a word I wrote during NaNoWriMo. I made it to 50,000 words, but my novel wasn’t finished. This morning, I thought about re-reading it so far, and maybe tackling the last ten, twenty, thirty thousand words that it will take to actually complete; but I took the dogs for a two-hour walk and finished reading Freedom instead.
What I have done, though, is posted the first 1,500 words or so of the novel in the Fiction section of the site. I don’t intend to serialize the novel here, but I may continue to post excerpts from time to time, as I re-read and try to find my way to the end of the story. So, if you’re interested, check back from time to time.