Last night, at approximately 8:45pm, my husband Aaron completed the NaNoWriMo challenge and finished his first novel! On November 1, after reading about the challenge, he decided to try writing something longer than a character sheet for an RPG. He had an idea that he had been pondering for awhile, so he set his mind to writing that story. And while the challenge asks for 50,000 words (which he hit before Thanksgiving), his word count is somewhere close to 80K.
Some of our friends have been reading it while he wrote it, and are very impressed with the work. It’s kind of a cross between a superhero novel and Call of Cthulhu. The next step is for him to edit it, then pass it off to a friend to edit. This friend is working on his Master’s degree in English (creative writing), so he should be a good editor. After that, it’s off to be submitted to publishers. I’m excited about all the possibilities for him: his current job is beyond awful, so this gives him a creative outlet and lets him find some happiness in work. Oh, and this is only the first of a trilogy for him.
Now, if they only had a NaNoReadMo challenge. Then I could claim to be a winner as well – it’s the first novel I’ve managed to read in only a month since becoming a mother!
Congrats, dear! You did it!
Congrats to your husband from a fellow 2005 NaNoWriMo winner. It seemed like a lot of guys were writing fantasy. Very cool.