Write November

This month, as with every November for the last thirteen years, I have taken on a writing project. The aim for me has always been to write 50,000 words in a month. Previously, I’ve associated that with a certain organisation but seeing how they’re falling apart at the seams, haven’t taken correct measures to safeguard their users and have made a series of derogatory comments, both in-house and in messages to their members, I no longer wish to be associated with them and will not use their name here.

In June this year, I started writing something new. The subject can remain just between us squirrel friends but it was grounds for my partner to ask why I kept having books delivered with swastikas on their cover. I get how that sounds but researching fascism sometimes means having books on your shelves that you wouldn’t necessarily read on public transport.

The more of it I wrote, the more it seemed to unravel. I knew that I would have to overwrite and then resolve a lot of that in the edit. What I wanted was a big old block of marble that I could later chip down into something around the size of a chess piece, hopefully my favourite, the knight.

I am pleased to report that at 144,036 words, across 313 pages, captured in 72 chapters based on seven siblings, with just one carefully placed use of the word fuck, the first draft of my manuscript for BYF is complete. 50,000 of those words were completed in November so I’m taking that as a win. I need to put it away in a drawer and probably not think about those awful people for a while. It has been an absolute labour of love but there are other things pending.

I’ve got a hard deadline of next Tuesday to get something very exciting together so there’s no time to stop. I’ll never stop. If you’re a creative person in any way, shape or form then you’ll understand. Even when you’re not doing the thing, it’s occupying some of that grey matter.

Up and at them!