finish my novel

A good friend of mine who was a Corpsman with the Marines in Vietnam brought me the manuscript of a book that he wrote about his experiences. Such a powerful work. He asked me to critique this, which I consider a tremendous honor. It has inspired me. He told me he has been working on this for 30+ years.

The best move I’ve made so far this year: I upgraded my phone and taught myself to use the voice recorder feature. I tend to have ideas for my novel when I’m driving or walking, and some are so subtle that they’re easily forgotten. With the phone recorder, though, I’ve held on to several ideas already, and using it in public doesn’t look as odd as using a dedicated recorder.

...but only a little. Today, for instance, I recorded some thoughts about the novel while I was driving. I think it’s getting stronger.

...five minutes ago that NaNoWriMo starts NOW. Since I haven’t really even decided on which novel project I’d like to pursue, I don’t know if I’ll attempt it this time. If I come up with a plan, I could write extra this weekend to make up for today and tomorrow. Hmmm. We’ll see…

That’s quite a commitment, but it’d be worth it to reach the finish line.

I keep telling myself that the reason I’m not revising my novel at the moment is that I don’t have a computer at my house. Maybe that’s it. But I think I am revising in a manner of speaking. The novel stays in the forefront of my mind, and I continue to remodel the characters and the storyline, even though I’m not putting those changes down yet. I’ll officially declare that it’s “in progress.”