So here we are, November. As I mentioned in my previous update, I had a new idea I wanted to work on – something vastly different from Our Boy Jack. I may well return to it, I don’t know yet, but right now I needed to break clean away. So what have I been up to lately? Well the month of November is also known as NaNoWriMo in writing circles. This wonderful little moniker stands for National Novel Writers Month. The idea is pretty simple – work on your novel every day, and by the end of the month you should have a 50,000 word first draft completed.

In my blogging and through connections and friendships I’ve made through this I’ve come to learn that many people use NaNoWriMo for numerous things. Some use it to start and finish a novel. Others use it to continue a work in progress. For me, it is something a little different. Between my blogging and working full time, the likelihood that I will hit 50k by the end of the month is somewhere around zero. But that is not my goal. I am aiming to build good habits and get used to writing something every day, even if that is just a few hundred words here or there. At this stage I don’t even know if my finished work will be at 50k. But that doesn’t bother me too much. Our Boy Jack was something I toyed with for the better part of 2 years and never finished.

So what is different this time? Well my current work is entitled Chasing Shadows. I haven’t written up the blurb for it yet, but as soon as I do I will share this with you all. What I can share is it will be set in a steampunk world. This alone is something I am fascinated by, and am loving the opportunity to be able to fully create a world, characters, and everything in it. It will be a bit of an adventure mystery. I am loving the current direction of things, I know where the book is heading for its ending. The fact that I have no idea how it gets there only adds to my enjoyment.

As mentioned before, I don’t know if I can call this a true novel at this stage. It may end up being more of a novella. I confess I started it a little before November began, but no more than 300 or 400 words. As I write this, on the evening of November 6th, I have hit 3005 words written, and pretty much completing my third chapter. It may be a bit short, and it very well may be awful writing (Stephen King I ain’t!) but I am enjoying it immensely, and maybe with test readings and advise from others in the writing world I will eventually be able to polish it up into something half decent.

On a final note, I can also happily share the cover for Chasing Shadows. I started out playing around with some designs that I felt conveyed the ideas in my head. Thanks to the support of fellow author and friend, AK Alliss, the cover was tweaked, added to and polished up into this final form. I hope you all like it!