21 days and counting...

Earlier this evening I finished my first critical reading of my manuscript. Armed with a pen and a highlighter, I've spent the last couple weeks working through the hundreds of pages I wrote between November and June. I was delighted at some of what I found and embarrassed by other parts.

But more than anything, I am super excited to see what comes next. If you're the single other person out there who's read this manuscript, I know you know what I mean.

The story ends without ending.

In other words, it's not over yet. I knew very early on that in order to tell the story that I wanted to tell, it was going to take a great many words and a grand number of pages. As I drew close to where the story ends, I realized that I might even want to break it up into companion pieces and so I decided to end it where it ends and that in November I'd either begin writing a completely separate sequel, or I'd write a second half that would end up being integrated with last year's NaNoWriMo project.

Is it cheating? Maybe. But since this isn't a competition for anyone other than myself, I feel like the rules can be flexible enough to suit my purposes. The point for me is the focused writing. I love being able to spend an entire month surrounded by a community of other crazy people who are committed to writing 50,000 words in 30 days (or less). It motivates me. It inspires me.

There are 21 more days until the kickoff of National Novel Writing Month 2011. That's 21 days I have to wait to find out how this story will end.

How will I bide the time? I have a few playlists to make. One of the main characters is an obsessive maker of playlists and I have some...research to do to get ready for this next chapter.

I also have a lot of edits to put into the existing manuscript...but that's not nearly as much fun.

Where I'm looking forward to spending a lovely weekend during this year's NaNoWriMo!