With National Novel Writing Month, celebrating their 25th anniversary, I realised that 2023 marks the 20th year since I completed (and won) my very first NaNoWriMo. So, I thought I'd take a look back at my highs and lows and the projects that I worked on. For the month of November, I will explore what I remember of those projects and share them with you. Maybe I'll even find the inspiration to finish the incomplete and to edit those with whole storylines.
So, my first NaNo, it was 2003, I was in early High School (Year 8 or 9) and we were going on a road trip. I had this old boxy laptop and we had a campervan and it was perfect for inspiring the imagination.
2004 I didn't fare so well, inspiration never came in the way it did the year before and in the following years, there simply wasn't the time to write during November. Living in Australia, I had end of year exams in November and no time to write.
Unfortunately, this is not my 20th NaNoWriMo, life got in the way and exams were always in November, even as I moved from High School to university. I still wrote on occasion, but honestly, it took a backburner, especially as I went to war with my high school English teacher. Well, not really, but it felt like that at times. He was my home room teacher, my English teacher and my computer studies teacher... Not a fun year and it really killed some of my enjoyment of the English language.
It wasn't until 2011 that I came back, ready and raring to go, a new novel in my heart. For the next few years, I focused on my newfound love, Crime Fiction. I had always thought I would write fantasy, but I had a detective that just wanted to say her piece. Her stories took up 2011, 2012 and 2013. They still haven't seen the light of day, but maybe I'll get around to editing those that are finished and completing the others.
Come NaNoWriMo 2014, I shifted my focus to a new project, an epic space adventure was calling my name and would haunt me again in 2015 when not only did I continue the story but I had to go an rearrange everything. Don't worry, I eventually figured it out, working on the story off and on again until The Kahzer Chronicles became a reality thanks to Mythrill Fiction when it was published at the beginning of 2022. Unsurprisingly, NaNoWriMo 2022 had me return to the adventures of The Kahzer Magnilda as I embarked on writing season 2.
Although don't get me started on 2016 though. I was so sure I had a great story there and was inspired by a project I'd don't during a writing course for Uni, but it was ultimately my worst NaNoWriMo ever making only about 3,000 words.
I was back on my game in 2017. Maybe I needed to channel my inner assassin for a bit! Then in 2018, I was inspired by he work I was doing to write a story about an adoptee finding their place in the world.
2019 had me really taking my writing seriously again though as I began work on the Eyes of Glass Trilogy with Look into My Eyes. Look into My Eyes is currently is currently in editing and I look forward to sharing it with the world soon. Immediately after typing my last words on Look into My Eyes, I started work on Saga of the Wild Hunt, which would be my Camp NaNoWriMo project for 2020 as the world went into lockdown for COVID-19 and I took part in my first Camp NaNo event in April. Saga of the Wild Hunt would eventually (and finally) be published in August of 2023, as my debut novel. With these two stories, I was back in my element, fantasy and science fiction.
July's Camp in 2020 had me return to the Eyes of Glass universe with "Through the Eyes of Babes" the second in the trilogy and the maybe (but never quite happening) "Eyes Wide Open," though I'm not sure if that will ever see the light of day or be incorporated int other backstory of the rest of the series. Through he Eyes of Babes would continue as my Camp 2020 project and again for he April camp in 2021. With the completion of the second book, I was floundering though and had no idea where to go to finish the story, so I took a break, hoping to return to it at some point.
At a standstill with Eyes of Glass, I turned my attention back to Saga of Toserra Sorose, writing a companions guide and my own little bible of world facts for July's camp in 2021 (I'll be posting bits from that in this blog at some point!)Then when Camp NaNo occurred in 2021, I was ready for the sequel (which is now being edited). At that point, the story was called Saga of the Returned, but it's changed names a few times now.
In 2022, I wanted to write something new, so for the April Camp, I delved into the world of Elora with my new protagonist, Ava Larkin: Magical PI. It's a fun, cozy fantasy story about a homicide detective who finds herself in a magical world and teams up with a witch to solve crimes. I cannot wait to finish it! I did some random writing projects for the July camp and hit the writing hard for The Kahzer Chonicles Season 2 for NaNoWriMo.
Of course, that brings us to 2023, where for April camp I began work on the 3rd (yes, you've read that right), the 3rd Saga of Toserra Sorose story and in July, I worked on a collection of short stories all based within the Toserra Sorose universe.
So the question remains... What on earth am I working on for NaNoWriMo 2023?
Saga of Toserra Sorose?
Eyes of Glass?
Ava Larkin: Magical PI?
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