There are a few hours of novelling time left and I’ve accepted that I’m not going to reach 80,000. I was hoping for a last minute burst of inspiration but I think I’m all written out, to be honest. Still, 74,772 words in 30 days isn’t at all bad really. Maybe later this evening I could manage another 228 words (is that right? my maths is crap) and get to 75,000 words which would be quite nice.

Last night I sat and read through the novel for the very first time. Yes, I have literally written 74,772 words without ever once reading over what I’d written. And you know what? It’s not half bad. There are some howling mistakes in it (early in the book, they go downstairs to the office in the nightclub… a few pages later on they go upstairs to the offices) and I’m still missing an ending, but I’m not far off that either and I’m hoping that my friends Vanessa and Linda might be able to provide inspiration for that final, critical scene. There are some really good bits. There is potential to add lots more scary moments, and some of the characters are definitely worthy of further development.

So Nano this year was a success; certainly much better than last year, when I only managed 12,000 words or so (although I did write about 50,000 words in the process of editing Into the Darkest Corner, nevertheless that doesn’t actually count…)

I’m going to try and write the ending in the next couple of days and then leave it for maybe a weekend or so, and then go back and polish it slightly before sending it in. I hope other people like it as much as I do.

Lots of love to all of you, and thank you for going on this year’s Nano journey with me!! xx