Novel November

NaNoWriMo died last year. Boo! But in its place arose Novel November, or "NovNov" for short.

The goal of Novel November is to write a complete first draft of a novel in 30 days. To "win," you must also reach or exceed a word count of 50,000.

I'm happy to report that I wrote every day in November, although one day I only got 153 words. Nevertheless, despite the Thanksgiving craziness and also having to drive a 28-hour round trip to celebrate said holiday, I persevered and made probably the longest writing streak in my career (so far).

I also completed the entire main story arc for a novel idea that's been in the works for over a year.

New novel in progress!

Last year, my pastor friend Derek suggested we write a book together. One Sunday after that, he preached on doubt in the Christian life. Thus germinated the idea that doubt is a normal part of following Jesus, and Christians don't have to be afraid of having doubts. Rather, the Bible gives us the perspective we need when doubts arise.

Derek and I tossed about the idea and it has grown the working title, Lost in Doubtwood Forest. We collaborated on the 12-chapter outline, shared our own memories of being lost in the woods (which we definitely have in common), ate breakfast, and talked about life together. And this month, during Novel November, I churned out 37,871 words! It was so wonderful to type "THE END" yesterday.

I just printed out 144 pages and bound them into a 3-ring binder. My goal in December is to reconcile the rough draft with a bunch of notes I took along the way. There are some gaps I know I have to fill and some details that morphed as the story went along. But after this quick revision, I'll be ready to turn it over to Derek for his review--and possibly major surgery.

Please pray for this project. My greatest concern is that I might miss the message that God would like to communicate to a world that needs Him to lead them through their doubts.