I'm writing The Song in a month. Yes, I’m going from scary blinking line on a blank Word document to a 50,000-word complete first draft in the 31 days of March. This novel-in-a-month project has been way more fun then I’d expected. I will tell you why it’s fun.
It decimates the fear factor. It’s much easier to hand it to God when you are not too busy with stinking thinking.
A preacher during our church’s missions conference made it sound prettier. He said it’s hard to steer a car when it’s stopped. It’s easier when it’s in motion, and it’s even easier when it’s got a good momentum. It’s easier for God to steer the Christian when he’s in motion in ministry.
Novel-in-a-month is all momentum. Of course, just like in the Christian walk, it’s also preparation. I wouldn’t recommend starting without a 3-act structure and an inner journey for your key people. But don’t worry. It doesn’t take away the thrill of discovering the story and the characters during the writing. That was a concern I had, and 30,500 words into it, it’s a concern no more.
I want to finish editing The Song of the Desert Willow by September for the American Christian Fiction Writers conference. While there, I will take a class they are offering on sequels. National Write Your Novel in Month (NaNoWriMo) is in November. I’m going to do it. God willing, I will write the sequel to The Song of the Desert Willow in November.