October is here, which means Preptober is in full swing! I'm so excited, as this is the first year I have EVER participated in NaNoWriMo.

Today, I thought I would talk about what I'm doing for NaNo (My W.I.P, my plan to reach 50,000 words, and more!)

I'm not going into too much detail about my novel, but for November, I will be on hiatus so I can focus on writing my novel. I wish I was the super blogger who could churn out posts every week and still get that 50,000 words, but sadly I am not.

I can't go into too much about my W.I.P because it is book two of my trilogy. Rise has been completed and I want to work on book two, Fall. (Rise and Fall are working titles and not the official titles. Official titles will be revealed closer to publication.)

So, to avoid spoilers, I can't say much about Fall. HOWEVER, I can say I'm breaking my own heart with this book, so there is that.

I know I haven't revealed much about Rise, either, but I will be introducing my characters in a post very, very soon.

What I can tell you is this trilogy is dystopian, but breaking the boundaries of traditional dystopian and bringing in contemporary, sci-fi vibes. Yes, there's romance, but it doesn't control the entire, freaking plot. There's hurt, and heartbreak, and death, and friendships, and family, and an evil president bent on ruling the world, one nation at a time. There's a conflicted heir to the country and a sassy henchman. (Don't tell him I called him a henchman, he'll be offended.)

I'm taking traditional dystopian and kicking it in the rear end because I've seen too many fail to be about the actual government problems built up in the world and become all about romance.

I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible. So I've based it in current times instead of a future date, like most dystopian. (ALSO SIDENOTE, Just because it's based in current times does not mean I'm basing it on current people in power, or anybody who's currently president or ruler of any one nation. This idea came to me when I was fifteen, and I'm 20 now, so it's a story I've created for five years. I've seen so many people leave reviews of dystopian novels, comparing it to current times and I just want people to enjoy the story for what it is: A STORY.) #rantover

Now that we have that out of the way, you may curious about what I've done for Preptober.

Well, I've also been working on finishing Rise, so Preptober has consisted of me really just outlining book two. I used to be hardcore write from the seat of my pants type, but I've converted over to outlining and planning because it's fun and it's organized. I'm an organized person in everything else in my life, so it makes sense. (Abbie's videos are amazing if you want to look into outlining.)

Outlining actually doesn't take me a whole month, so I've just been adding to the outline here and there while I write Rise and now my focus can solely be on the outline. Because it's a sequel, I already know my characters. I know where I need to continue from, and that's AMAZING.

If not, I do suggest creating an outline for your characters first, but I'll link some videos here to help you figure out a method for that.

So, how will I reach 50,000 words by the end of November when I'm working a full-time job and am away from the computer for most of the day? (Well for one, full-time at my job is 30 hours instead of 40, so that helps.)

I will be using the Pomodoro Technique. I will write for twenty-five minutes, take a five-minute break, and repeat. My daily goal is to get down 1,667 words, which shouldn't be too difficult. I'm going to attempt to write twice a day, so before I leave for work and after I come home. If I can do this every day, I'll hit 50,000, which should bring me to having most of my novel complete. (My novels are about 70,000+ words.)

I guess that's it for now. I was going to do a post for Halloween, but seeing as I need to focus on my outline, this is going to be my last post for this month. Starting today, I will be on hiatus from blogging. I'll be back in December to give y'all a recap of how it went, and if I won NaNo. Because this is the first time I've done this, I'm not too concerned about winning NaNo. I'm happy to participate.