Me on the sofa at BBC breakfast talking about NaNoWriMo

So it’s National Novel Writing Month again, and I seem to be all over the place talking about it. Sorry about that. It’s all totally heartfelt though. For lots of people, it’s is a great way to get a novel out into the world. But I am aware that it’s not for everyone. Some people like to take their time on their first drafts, planning and thinking as they go. They are brave souls. I’m far too scared to do that – I’d never get anywhere. I much prefer running through my first draft with my eyes shut, bumping into things as I go. I’ve used NaNoWriMo’s fast and dirty method since 2007 to power my work forward, and I’m doing it this year to get the words of my third Headline novel, Bad Jean, out into the world.

If you’re doing it this year, it’d be great to hear from you – we could swop notes. There’s nothing like a bit of peer support to bolster you along. I’m signed up on the NaNoWriMo website in my own name, so do take a look.

I was on the BBC Breakfast red sofa chatting about it, which made for a really exciting day, including some very fine treatment from BBC hair and makeup – I actually managed to look groomed, rather than windswept. Also featured was a film with several Brighton NaNoWriMo participants, including Elizabeth Haynes, whose 2008 NaNovel Into the Darkest Corner was, like Cuckoo, published this year. If you’d like to see other examples of my NaNoWriMo zeal and evangelism, please follow these links: Futurebook, Publishing Talk, The Daily Writer,The Independent.

By the way, it’s day two, and my word count is a respectable 4888. (that’s the NaNoWriMo word count. The total count for Bad Jean is 21766, for reasons explained in my last post).

Happy ‘noveling’, people! (as they say in NaNoWriMo land)