Quit or Keep Going?

What happens when you don’t finish something on time? Do you quit? Or do you keep on going?

If you’ve ever felt frustrated with a writing project, you know what I’m talking about. And if you’ve ever done NaNoWriMo—and didn’t get to 50,000 words by November 30th—you might have faced that very question.

I didn’t start writing until a week after NaNo started on November 1. I fussed and fumed over an outline and played around with a rough draft I started a few months ago, but I wasn’t jazzed.

Ten days before the deadline, the lightbulb went off. I had my story. Quit or keep going? 

Could I write 50,000 words in ten days? Technically, yes, but maybe I didn’t have to. Maybe I could write something short. What about 20,000 words?

I finally got in the thick of things with just five days to go. November 30th blew right by me (yeah, well), and I just kept going. So big deal.  I didn’t “win” NaNoWriMo. No problem. I’ll win on my own terms, I thought.

I didn’t finish until December 16, and I’ve spent the last week revising, editing, and proofreading almost 24/7 plus formatting and uploading to Amazon. Somewhere in there I created a cover just for something different to do.

And here’s the result: That’s Ms. Santa

It’s a light romantic comedy, perfect for holiday downtime. Or you could call it a holiday romance. It’s around 27,000 words (a two-hour read), fast paced, and funny.

If you’ve read my other fiction, you’ll notice a different writing “voice” compared to my usual. Lots of slang! Different from my usual blogging voice, too, with a few exceptions. It was fun writing it.

Here’s what one reader has to say (she couldn’t get her review up on Amazon for some reason):

A Great Read!
This book was a fun and lighthearted read. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline, the plot twists and the characters. Very well written. I highly recommend this and looking forward to reading her other books!    —Karen

Remember, if you don’t have a Kindle reader, you can install a free version of Kindle for your laptop, desktop, or smart phone from Amazon.

And I’d love it if you could leave a quick review. A few sentences is all it takes, and just be honest! Here’s help if you need it: How to Write an Online Book Review.

Here’s the link again:

The moral of the story: Don’t quit. If you didn’t finish NaNoWriMo or stalled out on some other writing project, keep going! You might be just as happy as I am with the result.