NaNoWriMo: Like sprinting a marathon

We've just ticked over the halfway point of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), fifteen days in to a thirty-day writing spree.

If you managed even the most cursory of sweeps across the various Twitter posts, essays, and blogs that spawn around this event, you'd be sure to find a few comments comparing NaNo to a Marathonian challenge. Having entered and completed the 2009 London Marathon*, I can certainly see a number of ways in which the analogy fits:

The Sense Of A Beginning...

So, day seven of NaNo begins and I'm sitting neither pretty or ugly on 9,165 words.

A few facts to put that tally in perspective:

• By the end of the day I need to hit 11,666 to remain on course for the standard 50k NaNo target;
• Not wishing to make excuses, but I only effectively started writing on Sunday, so the current ~3k words per day is looking promising. Although it's worth remembering that...
• 50k is unlikely to bring me anywhere near a complete first draft;
• 50k words in a month remains an achievement; a complete first draft in that time would constitute a miracle.

I'm fairly happy with what I've written so far. The main characters (I've four central protagonists) have been established and the darker undercurrents of the narrative hinted at, though even the darkest reader's thoughts won't have anticipated what's to come...

One thing I hadn't anticipated is how sleazy some of the contents has panned out. I'm talking smut here, people. Good, honest, slightly graphic filth. 

My NaNo Adventure Begins. Belatedly.

After suffering a slight delay, I'm relieved to say that my NaNoWriMo adventure has finally begun.

What was the delay? Well, it was a week from hell in compiling my opening letter, blurb, synopsis, and a (final, final) draft of my opening chapters to send to literary agents. One literary agent to start with. Names have been withheld to protect the innocent, but there will be a copy of the above landing in an agent's 'slushpile' tomorrow morning. According to the website, I can look forward to their rejection (sorry, "response") within 4-6 weeks. Perhaps a little too long to go holding my breath.

I'll put a few more details of Book One up in due course but for the moment I'll leave you with the title:

Some grounding (for me and you)

Where to start? I'm hoping a little background might help you make some sense out of what will follow in the months ahead. If that's even possible.

Why a blog and why now? In a word: timing.