Flights of Fantasy

Did you notice I used past tense? And the month is only half gone? Well, it was intentional. My NaNo is officially over. Sigh.

What NaNo taught me this year is that sometimes you have to let go to find your way forward.

My story has been stalled for the last week. I’ve been writing, but nothing I’ve written has advanced the plot. I’ve been spinning in place, generating word count, but not making progress. Yesterday I said, “Enough!” and took myself out of the race in the forum where I was reporting my progress.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think my muse is perverse. She’s been AWOL for the last week, but the minute I throw up my hands in defeat, she reappears. I woke up this morning with the answer to my stagnated story line. Who knew she was waiting for me to let go?

NaNo is still over for me. The answer requires a complete rework of the story-so-far. My antagonist has changed along with the main external plot. But that’s okay. I know my characters better than I did on November 1 and now I have a substantial enough conflict to carry the weight of a novel.

Ultimately, a successful NaNo even though I won’t “win” the word count challenge.