Why I Fail at NaNoWriMo. And my Cover! (Kristin Rae)

Writing a novel in a month. Sounds great, right? So great that this month I gave it a shot. Sort of.

Until this year, I've been a portrait photographer and October/November/December have been a stressy nightmare. Since I've stepped away from photography, I thought I'd jump on this NaNo train and whip out the bones of a middle grade book in a month, shooting for 30-35k words, well below the official 50k goal. I said to myself, "Self, you are going to write one thousand words a day. That's your goal. You can do it."

I didn't even make it one day. The word-vomiting method of NaNo is NOT for me. My brain doesn't let me do that. I LOVE clean first drafts. I edit like crazy as I'm drafting. The less work I have to do later, the better.

I've also been EXTREMELY distracted this month. This is right around that 6 month mark before my debut, so exciting things are happening! I have a cover!

I'm told they're still tweaking it, but this is the one on the ARCs.

I am getting my ARCs, like, NOW! I can't believe a story that came from my brain is going to be printed and bound and blurbed!

“With Italy's brilliant landscapes, a main character you'll love from the first line and a new dreamy book boyfriend (he's mine!), WISH YOU WERE ITALIAN is a charming and addictive read. Devour this delicious treat like a double scoop of gelato.” —Lindsey Leavitt, author of Going Vintage and Sean Griswold’s Head.

 I also just attended an online marketing conference so I'm researching and game-planning and basically doing a lot not-writing. Way too much not-writing.

I think this should be my goal by the end of November: create a doable daily schedule that involves a baseline word count goal. AND STICK TO IT.

Anyone else so distracted by the squirrels of life that you have trouble keeping a schedule?