Writing a 50,000 word novel in a month has proven to be quite a difficult task for me. I applaud all who’ve successful completely their novels during NaNoWriMo, from the next great American novels, to those rough, rough drafts that you’re just glad you’ve finally transferred from your head onto paper. I envy you because you have been able to do something that I’ve failed at three Novembers in a row. My punishment for being a perfectionist and procrastinator, I presume.

So, I’ve decided to try a far less difficult feat. Write a novel in a year. Sounds easy enough, right? 1,000 words a week for 52 weeks equals 52,000 words. Boom! There’s my novel. And because I’m writing approximately 150 words a day instead of almost 2,000 words a day, I have room to release my inner perfectionist and edit, edit, edit, over the course of the week.

I have three novels floating in my head. One, I shared with you in April during the A to Z Challenge and am in the midst of editing and expanding (I added up the word count on those posts . . . 16,632 words. That’s barely a novella. Grrr!), and I gave you a snippet of another in one of my Friday Fictioneers posts, so I want to give you something completely new. This idea was inspired by Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls. The novel follows the lives of five ‘black’ women from adolescence into adulthood, and explores some of the obstacles they face on that journey.

Every week for the next year, I will write/edit/delete/write a 1,000 word excerpt from this novel and post it here on Fridays (since that seems to be my lightest posting day), starting next week. The title of this novel is Oreo Cookies. You’ll see why when I post my first installment next week. Hope to see you then!