Gates to Asphodel Wrap-Up and NaNoWriMo 2018

I’ve spent months posting each chapter of Gates to Asphodel. Now that the last chapter has been posted, it feels strange to not have that one ready-made post, the one post each week I didn’t have to put too much thought into. I have another story I don’t intend on publishing that I do intend on posting here, but sometime next year since the end of this year is rapidly approaching and I’m planning on taking 3-4 weeks off.

But before the end of the year comes, there’s National Novel Writing Month next month.

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with it for years. At first, I loved it because, being so busy with school, it made it easy to just steal some time for writing. It helped get the creative juices flowing, too, which was lovely. But then I started hating the fact that I called myself a writer and I was pretty much only writing during November or whenever Camp NaNo was scheduled. So, I stopped participating. I’ve written since, but not much now that I’m the primary caregiver to two toddlers. This year, I decided to change that.

I might be a little crazy, but I decided to do NaNo this year. Not only am I still the mother of two toddlers, but there are a lot of things brewing over here, plenty of uncertainty, and a couple of things festering in my mind that I absolutely intend on acting on. So, I might be a little crazy thinking I can write at least 50,000 words next month. But nothing will ever get done unless I just commit.

It’s hard to believe, but I actually wrote Gates to Asphodel during NaNo in 2011. Which, now that I think of it, was a little nuts because I had just started grad school two months before and my first practicum placement one month before. Yet I still managed to write the whole entire thing. Yikes. It’s been doing little more than sit for about 7 years. Other than the light edits I’ve done as I’ve been posting each chapter, it’s never been edited.

Over the years since then, and definitely pre-kids, I participated in NaNo and Camp NaNo. I loved the feeling of writing and getting a story pounded out, but hated doing it just during a select few months. But now I need it. I need something to give me that swift kick to just start. Even though I wrote a post during the first real run of this blog about why I never wanted to participate again, here I am, years later, doing just that. Because I now need what it offers.

Before, I used to be an absolutely plotter. I refused to write something that I hadn’t fully planned out. This time, I’m a total pantser. I just want to get the juices going. I don’t care if it’s good or if it makes sense. I only care that I actually do it.

I had a different story planned, but inspiration struck and I’ll finally return to a story I’ve been working on for almost 20 years (more about it in a later post).

The Runaway Queen: Cass doesn’t want to be queen, so she runs away and leaves her twin to take her place.

Which brings me to a what comes next for this blog paragraph.

I need to commit to writing. I also need some accountability. And I have a blog that’s my space for whatever I want. Which makes me glad I never went further with the branding and trying to monetize. Whew! Anyways. November will be heavy on the writing (meaning I’ll be posting as I write so we get to discover what happens to the twins together!), moderate with the book reviews (because I’ve got some NetGalley books that need to be read and I don’t intend on going light on the reading next month), and light on the motherhood posts (though you can probably expect more than usual in December). So if you come for the motherhood/how I live with two kids posts, feel free to forget about The Lily Cafe during November, but please remember in December to check in.

And that’s the state of this blog. Gosh, how could I have let Gates to Asphodel languish for 7 long years?