I totally rocked NaNoWriMo. I passed 50k on November 30, technically winning, I had 60k by the end of the month, and 72k by the end of the weekend. It’s only about 2/3 done, I think… I call what I’ve written so far “Part One” when the characters are still on the starliner. “Part Two” will take place on the planet, and will be shorter since a lot of the set-up happened in Part One. I’m trying to continue riding the high, continuing to churn out the words while the story is still in my head. I’m scared to death of losing it…not the actual plot, for that I can make notes…but the feel I have for the story that’s propelling me right now.

I mocked up another cover for the book, giving it a new title. My working title is “A Brave New Whirl” and I’ve also played with the idea of “From Earth to Kingdom Come.” The starliner in part one is The Jubilation of the Southern Cross, and that’s what I’m calling part one. The planet is Kingdom Come and that’s what I’m calling part two.

I’m so glad I came back to this story for NaNo. It’s been on a shelf for a couple of years. When I took it down, I realized I’d written less than 2k, even though I had a good idea in my head what the rest of the story would be. I’m at the stage when I’m really enjoying it. I hope to be done by Christmas, then it will go onto the shelf just long enough for my brain to wrap around something completely different, like my Steampunk books or the Pangalactic Sojourners. After my brain has broken away from the story, I can go back to it and revise, use beta readers, and polish it up nicely. My goal for this book (besides, obviously, publication) is to have a professional story that I can be proud of and submit to either a contest (I have one in mind with PPW) or a workshop. This would be an excellent “first published novel” for me. It’s set in a world I’ve developed in detail, and in which I can set many more stories. I love writing Kingdom Come romances! This particular story also sets up the world well, because it is the story of two people immigrating to the world and noting all the cultural differences between this world and Earth.

So…for ROW80 my stated goal for December was to accept that NaNo was over, and take care of the real life stuff that usurps the month. I’m going to revise that to say I will finish my NaNo novel. Not a per day word count, but writing every day as much as I can.

And I need to make some decisions. Part of the reason I was able to succeed at NaNo was because the only regular blog posts I did were these Wednesday updates. I love doing interviews, but I think I’ll have to put them off until the New Year, at least. I will definitely be cutting back, and might get rid of the feature altogether even though it has brought me some wonderful contacts and friends. But my concentration needs to be on monetizing my career.

On a completely different note, my friend Wendy Russo is having a sale!

About January Black

Sixteen-year-old genius Matty Ducayn has never fit in on The Hill, an ordered place seriously lacking a sense of humor. After his school’s headmaster expels him for a small act of mischief, Matty’s future looks grim until King Hadrian comes to his rescue with a challenge: answer a question for a master’s diploma.

More than a second chance, this means freedom. Masters can choose where they work, a rarity among Regents, and the question is simple.

What was January Black?

It’s a ship. Everyone knows that. Hadrian rejects that answer, though, and Matty becomes compelled by curiosity and pride to solve the puzzle. When his search for an answer turns up long-buried state secrets, Matty’s journey becomes a collision course with a deadly royal decree. He’s been set up to fail, which forces him to choose. Run for his life with the challenge lost…or call the king’s bluff.

January Black is the silver medalist in the 2013 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, Young Adult – Coming of Age category.

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Praise

Reader Reviews

• Excellent Debut Novel!
• Thoughtful, exciting, and fun
• You don’t want to miss this book!!
• A quest for the meaning of liberty in a modern world
• Refreshingly intelligent and loads of fun!

Blog Reviews

• The LUV’NV (6-stars)
• Clean Teen Reads (5-stars)
• Conservative Teachers of America (4-stars)

Wendy S. Russo got her start writing in the sixth grade. That story involved a talisman with crystals that had to be found and assembled before bad things happened, and dialog that read like classroom roll call. Since then, she’s majored in journalism (for one semester), published poetry, taken a course on short novels, and watched most everything ever filmed by Quentin Tarantino. A Wyoming native transplanted in Baton Rouge, Wendy works for Louisiana State University as an IT analyst. She’s a wife, a mom, a Tiger, a Who Dat, and she falls asleep on her couch at 8:30 on weeknights. She can be found online in the following places:

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