After making the decision to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, I had a lot of energy. I’m afraid a lot of that energy has faded, and I blame it on my planning. But there is good news: I have a great writing app and a cover.

So first, I’ll start with the cover. It’s that lovely picture on the right. I actually finished it the night before NaNoWriMo began, but this is the official announcement of it. I’m so happy with it. It’s only a first effort though, but it’s something I can visually associate with the book and that has definitely helped the creative process. I don’t know why creating a cover is so important to me. I guess it’s because I have always associated books I’ve read with their covers. Even ebooks.

Now for the next exciting thing: Scrivener. It’s a writing program on steroids. The nice guys who made it offer a free trial during the month of November for the NaNo’ers, and I decided to give it a try. I’ve already got the free version of Celtx, which is fantastic for writing scripts but falls short for novel writing. I also use OmmWriter, but that really focuses on just the minimalism of writing. Scrivener leaves nothing to be wanted. I did have to watch some of the introductory videos to get the basics down, but that time has paid off. The biggest payoff is going to be that Scrivener can export my novel as a PDF, EPUB, or MOBI file, so my book can make all the rounds when I want to publish it myself–after several months of editing, of course.

And finally, I’ve fallen about 4,500 words behind. When I started, I was able to chart out the first three chapters of my novel. I finished chapter three two days ago, and I’m finding it hard to make up where the story is going as I write it. I’m going to take some time tonight to chart out the next three chapters, so I should be back on that writing pony tomorrow. (Did you notice the pun? Sorry.) I do have some extra vacation time around Thanksgiving, so I’m poised to catch up on my word count before the month is finished. My word count may be down, but I’m not out.