NaNoWriMo Plans

So, like so many other writers or hopeful-writers, I'm making my yearly attempt at NaNoWriMo this year.  That word is enough to throw fear into the heart of my computer...and make me wonder what odd illness will strike one of my children this time - because I haven't had a NaNo yet without some drama on the health-front.

This isn’t my first attempt.  I’ve even “won” more than once.  I'm mixing it up a little, and even adding to the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month.  I'm working on two distinct stories.  While I’m hoping to complete my first draft of my YA novel I started back in August, I’m also beginning a new project from scratch (which, to be honest, is the basic intent of NaNo).

Some Nights (the contemporary romance) explores Ella Miller’s arrival in a town she visited while growing up.  When she inherits her aunt’s house, she discovers that fresh starts aren’t easy to come by, and she has more baggage than just her cat in tow.  Thankfully, there’s a helpful handyman named Jake McPherson who’s looking for a fresh start of his own – he just doesn’t know it yet.

For the first time, I’m bringing in some of my experiences as a first grade teacher into a novel.  I’m staying in my comfort zone of writing about a fictionalized version of a small Texas town that I love.

So far, the outline of the story has:

- 1 pretty sexy first grade teacher

- 4 blue eyed brothers

- 1 deadbeat cousin

- 1 jealous ex-fiance

- an assemblage of townspeople who are pretty much like people I’ve met in the towns I’ve lived in…but I might have taken a few liberties to make them a little more fun

- 2 cats

My YA story is still a little harder to describe.  Also a romance, but with a paranormal twist, Ava Thatcher has to leave her home in San Diego and go live with her aunt in a small east Texas town two days before her senior year begins.  This story contains:

- a jealous cousin

- a landlocked lifeguard

- a teen heartthrob who's already dated all the girls in the senior class

- a secret that Ava isn't allowed to tell

So, are you up to the challenge of participating in NaNo?  Tell me a little about your story.  We can do this!