NaNoWriMo 2023: Weekly Update #1

New chapters written as part of NaNoWriMo 2023 (and so counted toward the 50k goal):

Old draft chapters that I polished and/or added art to (but did not count toward the 50k goal):

Chapters that I had started but greatly expanded or thoroughly revised (and so counted some of it toward this month’s goal):

If you’re new to the book:

The novel is, in essence, a postmodern choose your own adventure style book. It also forms the spine of my Secret of Secrets series, but don’t worry about that.

Here is the original introduction, which has a link within it to subsequent chapters:

Here is the readers’ guide/table of contents:

Here is the section of Adventures of Secrecy newsletter website where new chapters appear as they are published (and so appear in reverse chronological order):

https://tvansantana.substack.com/s/nanowrimo-2022

And finally, here is a new introduction to the work I wrote back in January 2023:

Planning documents and activities:

I spent most of the first day this year planning out what I needed.

I spend a little time each day going over existing draft chapters (I have 63 at the time of this writing), simplifying, expanding, cutting them, or at least making notes about the current state of each.

I also spend time a few days a week backing up chapters so that I have complete copies in multiple places. Substack seems pretty safe, and the emailed chapters have gone to my email and yours, but many posts from last November and this November only exist on Substack currently. So I’m working to fix that.

Lastly, I made a plan for January through June 2024 for how to tidy up this book and move toward press and launch. I hope to do something similar for the Everything Fails: Ten Years Gone edition.

Related tasks:

Doing the artwork (even though it is the oft maligned ‘AI art’) takes quite awhile. Editing does, too—which isn’t typically part of NaNoWriMo. In fact both these activities go against the purist interpretation of ‘write like hell’ NaNo, but I’ve been on this book for a minute, so. It’s just part of my process at this point.

I also keep both the Backbone and the Caverns up to date, which is not a huge deal? But does take more time than one might think.

Oh, and I wrote this summary you’re reading right now.

My condition:

This week has been a rough start. I’ve been in a lot of physical pain. And while I’m ultimately appreciative of the cooler weather and changing leaves, my SAD and arthritis have been kicking in. I’ve been doing an okay job with self-care, so I’m able to work, but it has kina sucked. Lot of pain. I don’t talk about it because it doesn’t typically help me to. So perhaps that’s an indication of where I am?

Anyway, I hope you are doing well and your projects and life are thriving! See ya next week, babe.

Xoxo,

T

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