NaNoWriMo has a different feel for me this year. I think because the lifting of Covid restrictions meant so many things opening back up and trying to get life in general back on track, I’m feeling the time crunch of everyday life more than I used to. So despite not as much inspirational intake to do this year, I’m still way behind on my list, and behind on several prep factors as well that I was supposed to have locked-down by this time.

As many of you already know, my theme for these NaNo projects is Horror Vs. Fantasy. The Horror group for this year’s project is Mummies, of which there wasn’t a ton of material to find. My primary source of cultural inspiration was Brendan Fraser’s ‘The Mummy’, and a few obscure selections for tonal inspiration.

I hadn’t expected to have trouble keeping up with things this November, but there is another big change this year compared to previous years, and that change is that my YouTube channel has gone from being a side thing to being my primary work. It’s become the platform on which I have the largest following, and maintaining a relatively steady stream of new material keeps me busy week to week. As a result, writing has gone from being my main focus to something I only do periodically. NaNoWriMo is a way of keeping those creative writing skills sharp by giving them a major exercise at least once a year.

Having come to Mummies, and having done Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies in previous years, there was concern that I was reaching the end of the Horror barrel (or at least the OG classical monsters), but when I looked at the Horror genre as a whole and saw how many more categories of creatures and characters have come to be in more modern stories, I realized there’s a lot more to this landscape. Rather than getting short on ideas, I’m now debating whether or not I want to start making these projects a bi-annual thing in order to be able to fit all of these ideas into the foreseeable future.

I have some time before I decide on that, because next year’s project is already planned out and I don’t think I want to do another NaNo before then. It’s a decision that would be based on several factors including life circumstances and promptings for non-NaNo projects mid-year.

As for this year’s project, the character list has been done for a while, though I still have to finalize some minor details – oh, and also names XD. It’s surprisingly hard to come up with Egyptian names.

This week’s objective is to put together a skeleton plot with basic details for each scene – at least so that I have a rough idea of where I’m going with each new scene and have less blank screen syndrome.

For the final week in October I need a more detailed description of the opening scene (or whichever scene I plan to write first) so that I can hit the ground running on November 1^st. And also try to remember to wait at least an hour after midnight before I actually start so that the daylight savings shift that occurs in November doesn’t mess up my count like it did the first year – though that’s a technicality. (Also, why is Daylight Savings still a thing, really?)

How is your NaNo prep coming along? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you 🙂