In November of 2019, I laid aside my work on Rose’s story. The story that I want to tell is so different from the narrative that is appearing on the written page. And I have started this particular tale over countless times, trying to hone in on the right path, all to no avail. So, rather than tossing Rose on the scrapheap, I have set her aside. To work on a Shiny New Idea.

The other thing I did in November was to participate in a writing event called NaNoWriMo [1]. This digital community encourages writer to begin a new project on November 1 and commit to writing 50,000 words by November 30. That’s a little more than 1600 words per day. A lot, for a slow writer, like me.

But I accepted the challenge anyway. I’d had an idea brewing for some time to take the life of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Comfort Marvel McDowell, and fictionalize it in a Mystery Series: The Comfort Marvel Mysteries.

I’m excited about this new venture. I have a first draft completed (it’s bad, believe me–1600 words/day does not encourage lit-quality prose–but the story’s there and that part isn’t so bad!) and am working on cleaning that up to see what’s next.

So, expect to see some bits and pieces from this Shiny New Idea in the coming months.

And, don’t worry about Rose. I haven’t given up on her. I’m just giving that story a little room to blossom before I tackle it once again.

Notes

1. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, held every November, and represents new and established writers from around the globe. Read more about it here.