And so it begins (again)…

Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month? Although it’s been a thing since 1999, I didn’t learn about it until 2015. I’d been thinking about writing a book, y’know, how one does, thinking and thinking about it but never *actually* doing it. It was one of those “someday” goals I’d had since I was a kid and by the time I was…well, we’ll say, old enough to know that life is short…with a real job and a real family who needed to, y’know, eat and be housed, I’d almost talked myself out of it. But when I learned about NaNoWriMo, which is what the cool kids call it (look it up, it’s a real thing), I decided to give it a try.

So I started writing on November 1, 2015. I had this fuzzy romance plot in my head about a single-mom baker who lived in my community of suburban Dayton, Ohio. It had a dastardly ex, a hunky love interest, a funeral (WTF, 2015 Michelle?) and a couple of scene-stealing kids. And a dog, of course. Did I reach my goal of writing 50,000 words that month? No. Was the book any good at all? Again, no. Will you ever read that book? Hell, no.

But by then, I was addicted. To writing – nothing nefarious! Even though that book lives in a dusty corner of my hard drive, never again to be opened, the next November, I started another book. I wrote 50,000 words. And, at least three rewrites, a new title, and buckets of angsty tears later, I published that book as Work with Me. In fact, most of my novels have started out as NaNo projects. I love the challenge and the community.

So this November, I’ve gone back into the writing cave to write Book 6 in my Synergy series, which will be Natalie and Jamila’s story. Its working title is Tempt Me. Check out my Instagram for regular(ish?) updates. And I hope to put it in your hands next May. Wish me luck!

The post And so it begins (again)… first appeared on Michelle McCraw, Contemporary romance author.