My NaNoWriMo Was a Train Wreck
I joined hundreds of thousands of other writers around the planet who tackled the ambitious goal of completing a 50,000-word novel in thirty days.
In one sense, I was successful. I dutifully churned out 2,000 words a day and at the end of the month, I had a 60,000-word first draft.
I began to research the concept for my historical novel seven months earlier, on April 1, 2020. By the time November rolled around I had read dozens of books, recorded a raft of notes, and dreamed up a story. I mistakenly believed I was ready to start writing.
Set in 1905, my novel titled Finding Flora concerns a Scottish newlywed who jumps off the train in the middle of the night to escape from her abusive husband, and finds herself alone on the vast prairie. Flora claims a homestead and endures the deprivations of pioneer life, supported in her struggles by several female neighbours including an American couple, a Welsh widow, and a Métis woman.
Almost immediately, I realized I needed more of the details that lend authenticity to every work of historical fiction. For example, I had located an old train schedule, but I had no idea what a sleeping compartment in a steam train looked like. I had researched the climate, but not what Flora might be wearing. Each time I hit a snag, I wrote (while swearing in my head) “blankety, blank, blank.”
