Call me crazy. With as much as I have going on in November, I decided that I would pile 30 days of writing toward a 50,000-word novel draft on top of the load. Yes, I am participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) once again.

I made a promise to myself to make some serious progress toward a new novel manuscript this year.

I wasn’t ready to put in the work earlier in 2021. Having just moved into my new home last December, I knew I had a lot of work ahead. I was hoping that life would have slowed a bit by this time, but…well…that didn’t happen. I have yet to unpack everything from my move, and I have projects upon unfinished projects.

Of course, I flew through the month of October, known as Preptober in NaNoWriMo circles, without any actual prep work. It is the time period where writers outline, build worlds, make notes, and otherwise prepare for a successful month of writing in November. I tend to be a pantser, someone who writes by the seat of their pants. Nevertheless, I did spend a few minutes today actually thinking about a story.

I also have chapters written and a partial outline of a WordPress-related tech book. This is something I could have easily picked up and finished in November. But, it’s not a novel, and the dream is to be a novelist.

Maybe it’s something in the air. Autumn is the time of the year I am typically motivated the most. My greatest memories are from the season. Football. Festivals. First kisses. The cooling of the sweltering Alabama heat. While heading toward the dead of winter, there always seems to be so much life — so much magic — in the air. That is something I want to capture, even if for only a moment.

So, begins the story of Boone. He is a gunslinger, and he has a story to tell…