It has certainly been a long month… it came down to the final day… but I did it!

The NaNoWriMo commitment of 50,000 words has finally been completed in my thriller/suspense novel titled The Avatar Murders.

Attempting to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days is something akin to literary sadism for anyone without a Benzedrine addiction. Thanks to WriteorDie, a program that unleashes pure torture upon the writer each minute it senses a slowdown in typing, I was able to kill off that inner-editor and learn to write freely and certainly quickly.

I also discovered the sweet nectar of the gods that is Liquid Story Binder, a program that allows the author to create a custom writing environment with every bell and whistle one could hope for but without all the distractions that most “writing software” usually brings along. Liquid Story Binder helps greatly with my writing style in that I can outline everything first and then build upon scenes in a non-linear fashion. This is the perfect way to destroy writer’s block since one can skip to whatever section of the manuscript that one feels excited about at that moment and not lose the overall structure of the storyline.

Oh, I still have plenty more to write to truly complete the first draft. Two more victims must still die as well as the initial investigations into them. Next, I will need to do the first round of editing throughout the month of December. My goal is to have a draft ready by Christmas to distribute to several people to provide that first round of criticism that will drive a more in-depth editing session.

This was my first NaNoWriMo attempt and surely not my last. I cannot say that I am already excited for next year, though, hahaha. My finger tips shall need as much rest as my mind that has certainly been stretched thin over these 30 days.