I Won NaNoWriMo Now Where Is My Book?

Anyone who writes 50k words within the 30-day time period (i.e. the already hectic month of November) is eligible to "win" NaNoWriMo. The site requires you to validate your novel by copying and pasting everything you've written into a magical box.

It's okay. Once your novel's validated the site forgets whatever it saw, so nobody's stealing your ideas. Besides, there are no original ideas. I mentioned (the highlighted, glossy parts of) an idea to a couple of friends in front of someone else who said, "Oh! So it's JUST like Shirley Jackson's THE LOTTERY?" Um, no, totally NOT like that. Kudos that she knew Shirley Jackson was the author, but I digress.

According to an array of reputable sources, including Writer's Digest, a novel in the genre of general literary fiction is somewhere between 85,000 and 100,000 words. Depending on your genre and intended audience though, your novel might be slightly longer or much shorter.

If you just finished NaNoWriMo for the first time, then you might be thinking, "But I wrote 50,000 words!" So you did. Good job! And now it's time to write the rest of the book.

While writing my current NaNoWriMo winner, a cozy mystery, ONE SQUASHED VICTORY, the characters revealed the ending scene, how the book will wrap up, and the plot for books two and three. But I still have about 27,000 words to go before I can say the first draft of the novel is really done.

Even after I write those words, there's still a lot to go as outlined in "Revisions, Bloody Revisions," a Midnight Ink blog post by Tracy Weber. Some authors the book, send it to the publisher, and from there it's on your shelf or e-reader. Tracy uses a 14-step process. Mine is at least 14. (Does she mention drinking copious amounts of wine and coffee while crying on the dog's shoulder because it's 3:30 A.M. and everyone else is asleep?)

So there you have it! While finishing up this book, HAUNTED WOMEN OF THE APPALACHIANS (my NaNoWriMo "win" for both 2013 and 2014) is on the verge of dropping into the hands of my benelovent beta readers. It's only slightly less terrifying as the day I put my sons on the school bus for the first time. Wish me luck!

Do you have any questions for me? Any comments on this topic? I'd love to discuss them with you in the comments section below!