Not writing a novel in November

Suddenly, in burst a man with a gun. "What the hell are you doing?" I cried. "Blasting you out of a plot hole, sugar," he said around a dog-eared roll-up.

NaNoWriMo, month of furious writing. I have been taking part this year, but you might not have realised because I've been relatively quiet about it. Those of you of an optimistic bent are now picturing me hunched over a computer keyboard, fingers a blur of caffeine-fuelled activity. Those of you who know me (not to mention my typing skills, usual coffee intake, and the state of my back) have a whole different idea, and you're probably nearer the mark.

So far I've written just over 6,000 words, which is 6,000 more than I had on October 31st. It was never intended to be a novel - keeping it realistic, I was thinking maybe a novella. It's called Larry Price is Missing and here's the synopsis I put on my NaNo page:

Larry Price's wife sent him on an errand but - typical Larry - he doesn't turn up to meet her where he was supposed to. Not for the first time, her Saturday afternoon shopping trip is spoilt by her selfish husband and she's not happy about having to traipse round their small town looking for him. When he isn't in any of the obvious places she begins to wonder if he hasn't just forgotten about her, after all. Might he be genuinely missing?

It's based on an idea I suggested for Ilkley Writers months ago, when we were first kicking around ideas for this year's Ilkley Literature Festival - we would each have done a monologue from a different character linked to a missing middle-aged man. In the event, we ended up doing something entirely different (and you can hear me reading the final performance story, and the one I wrote for the intervening idea here) but I liked this idea and decided when I had time I'd write all the monologues myself. Only in the meantime I read the wonderful Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg (you can read my review of it here) and it gave me the confidence to try something a bit different in terms of structure.

So that's the novella I should be writing at the moment. Why haven't I got further with it? Well, I've been reading and reviewing books (there's a new one at The Bookbag if you haven't seen it - gentle South of France mystery for gourmets and art-lovers), following up new possibilities for Ilkley Writers (more of which soon, I hope) and entering a couple of writing competitions. Plus of course, it being November, I've spent a few days wrapped in a duvet, sneezing.

A restrained hurrah, then, for my minor wordcount achievement (and the month's not over yet), best of luck to those of you sprinting to the 50,000-word mark, thank you to all the spouses (spice) etc that make all this extra writing fit into busy lives relatively painlessly, and sorry to those who get sick of hearing about it.