It’s November, which means writers are out in full force as many of us are tackling NaNoWriMo. For me, NaNo has always been about trying to hit that goal of writing every day. Not necessarily to finish a novel in a month or even to work toward a novel. It’s the daily challenge that intrigued me. Building stronger writing habits, and all that.
This year, we actually are writing a novel in November!
We’re offhandedly calling this a quickie romance. A short book, maybe more like a novella. Something to do for fun alongside of The Cabin Girl. We started work on it November 1st and we’re currently on chapter 8. (Chapter 7 hit some snags, but it’s golden now.) This story doesn’t have a title just yet, but it’s about two strangers-to-lovers named Dove and Burley. It’s somewhat of a big city girl meets small town boy, except the boy is a reclusive mountain man with a dark past. We’re having a lot of fun writing it and we can’t wait to share this story with everyone!
As for Cabin, it’s on hold for this month but still in the works. The latest work we’ve done on it, we gave chapters 11-14 a complete overhaul. That doesn’t sound like much on paper, but it’s a key part of the story and we really shook things up. We went over several different ways to handle the progression through those chapters. A lot of debating and trying to figure out the best way to lay out the events. This is where we’ll return after we finish writing this quickie romance.
Another thing we’ve been discussing lately is whether or not to split The Cabin Girl into two books. Basically, we wrote too much and it’s very long for a romance. It’s really more of an adventure story with a romance arc included. The setting calls for this, really, because with Cassia pretending to be a cabin boy at the start of the book, love obviously can’t blossom until Malko learns the truth of who she is. So, it might work better as a two part series. It might not. We’re still deciding.
Anyway, that’s what we’re up to nowadays. Hope NaNoWriMo is treating you all well. I’ll leave you with a snippet from our quickie romance!
Excerpt from Dove & Burley WIP
Soon enough, they found themselves on the winding road that led into the small town of Heart’s Peak. It was a pretty drive. The trees were all dressed up in their fanciest reds and yellows. Dove leaned closer to her side window, enjoying the view.
“You put any more thought into keeping the place?” he asked, breaking the silence that had filled the cab ever since they left his house.
“No,” she frowned. “I’m fixing it up to sell it.” And don’t you dare try calling me selfish again, mister.
Burley let out a deep sigh and shifted in his seat, his knuckles drawing tight around the steering wheel. To her surprise, he didn’t throw a complaint back at her. She didn’t see why it mattered so much to him, anyway. Was it just because it was convenient? Working right next door? Well a fit young man like him would have no trouble finding another job, and it wasn’t her fault he might have to actually commute.
“Do you know anyone around here who’d want to buy the horses?” Dove went on to ask. She didn’t know the first thing about selling horses. Or houses, but somehow houses seemed easier.
“You’re seriously gonna ask me that?” Burley said, and when she briefly met his eyes, she saw frustration.
“Well… I mean… You’re from around here. You know the other horse people.”
“Lady, you’re unbelievable,” he said, and she narrowed her eyes.
“Fine, I’ll figure it out on my own.”
“You do that.”
Dove felt like she wanted to smack him! Was he this insufferable to her grandpa too? She looked back to the window and said nothing more. Burley didn’t either and silence again surrounded them, though unlike before, now she couldn’t focus on the scenery.
Amber is half of the co-author duo that is Danica Avery. She lives in Maryland with her three furbabies. When she’s not being a crazy cat lady, or working on books, she enjoys playing video games, baking sweets, crocheting, and other artsy hobbies.