Tag: nanowrimo 2022

I Survived NaNoWriMo (More or Less)

Background Image: “Nine Lives” by Paul Scott Canavan

30 days, 50,000 words, and one sorta-finished story. That’s what happened last month for NaNoWriMo.

The Stats

Being a sports fan, I always enjoy a few well-placed stats. So here are a few, just for you:

  • Final word count: 50,014
  • Highest daily word count: 2,280 on the 23rd
  • Lowest daily word count: 130 on the 30th (the last day)
  • Average daily word count: 1,667.13
  • Hours spent stressed out: Countless

I even got a cool little certificate for finishing.

My NaNoWriMo 2022 Certificate

The Book

The name of the book I wrote was Remembering the End: A Novel of Novel Apocalypse Tales. It began as a book about people telling end-of-the-world stories, and it ended that way, too—more or less.

My original framing story was simply a ruined world; colorless and lifeless and pretty damn boring. At the urging of both Sara and my writers’ group, I devised (what I hope is) a more interesting setting: a hotel. Here’s an excerpt:

I splashed lukewarm water on my face, then dried myself with a towel from the rack. I examined the name of the hotel, stenciled in gold stitching on the towel: the Interstitial.

Look, I’ve heard of the Hilton and the Ritz, but I’ve never heard of the Interstitial. I read the name several times, just to make sure my present condition wasn’t deceiving me, yet it seemed I was reading that right.

So, then I knew where I was. Sort of.

I returned to the main room, feeling only slightly better than prior, then I realized how damn cold I was. Forgive the image, but all I had on were my skivvies. There was no suitcase on the floor, so I searched the wardrobe and pulled on whatever clothes were in there. Turned out to be a pair of too-big sweatpants and an oversize hoodie depicting a rain of $100 bills. (At that point, I was really hoping the Interstitial wasn’t a fancy place.)

As I prepared to step outside the door, I noticed shadows flutter along the crack of light beneath the door. Looked like people, several people, had just passed by in the hallway. Not that I heard them. I opened the door, squinted into the light, and…

Nothing. No one up the hall or down. Empty.

This was more than a little unsettling, as I’m sure you can understand. I mean, on top of my nausea and general amnesia. I crept down the hall, suddenly feeling anxiety about what might happen next.

Music played from somewhere down the hall. Sounded instrumental, like the big-band sort of stuff you might’ve heard on the Titanic, though it was too distant for me to be sure. More artwork lined the walls, framed photos and paintings, all of them just as odd as the one in my room.

For example, one image showed an image of a planet from space. The planet was engulfed in flames, like the head of a torch. Another depicted what appeared to be a wasteland, filled with numerous corpses and skeletons, each attended by a swarm of carrion birds. The name of the painting was etched into the frame: “The Buffet, or All You Can Eat.”

At this point, I was starting to get a little worried.

Beyond that, I worked on four of a planned five stories to be told within the framing device, each narrated by a different guest. The working titles of those stories are…

  1. “Baby Magic: An American Myth, Featuring a Sloth”
  2. “Choops & the ‘Foot Investigate the Uninvited Guest”
  3. “Two Houses”
  4. “Festivals in Hell”

I reiterate: These are working titles (as is Remembering the End, for that matter). Some, if not all, will probably change prior to publication. Still, I hope you enjoy what I’ve got so far.

The Takeaways

First and foremost, this experience reinforced my aversion to daily word counts. I’ve written about this decision before, but basically, I need variety. I thrive on hopping from one project to another, returning to Project A when Project B stalls, and vice versa. It’s tough for me to slog through my writing, especially when inspiration is hiding.

That happened a lot during NaNoWriMo. Not that I didn’t like Remembering the End—it’s just that I’d often come to a narrative roadblock and feel compelled to bust my way through rather than devise a clever way around. Ideally, I’d work on something else in the meantime.

But hey, on the bright side, I’ve got most of a new book in my back pocket for 2023. It’s not done, but it’s a lot more done than it was a month ago. Looking forward to sharing more with you soon!


Kyle A. Massa is a comic fantasy author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife, their daughter, and three wild animals. His published works include three books and several short stories. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading, running, and drinking coffee.

I’m Halfway Through NaNoWriMo 2022, And…

If NaNoWriMo was a baseball season, this would be my mid-season slump. Just check out my graph…

Why the sudden decline? Several reasons:

  1. My wife and I traveled to Yankee Stadium to see our alma mater, Ithaca College, crush our arch rivals, Cortland University, in the annual Cortaca Jug football game. Let’s go Bombers!
  2. I have a cold (probably from the game).
  3. I’m stumbling on my story.

Not struggling—just stumbling. I’ve completed three of a planned five parts of Remembering the End, but part four is giving me issues. Still working through them on my way to the right draft.

Here’s a bit from my work-in-progress. It’s from the part called “Summers in Hell”:

Hell is cold.

The wind cracks your bones, the snow falls when it wishes, and the old fires stand frozen on the tundra, locked in snapshots of dancing ecstasy.

Hell is cold.

The demons live in igloos. Every day, they fish beneath the ice for the souls of the damned, and every day they nab the same tortured people on their serrated fishing hooks, pulling them up all blue and drenched and sputtering. They roast the souls over fires until they’re crisped and blackened, and then the demons eat them with a side of baked beans and Bob Evans mashed potatoes. In Hell, the meals are always the same.

Overnight, the seven suns of Hell set and the demons retreat to their igloos. Their fires freeze and the holes they drilled ice over, and when they emerge from their igloos at first light, they do it all again. They catch the same damned souls, roast them, eat them, day after day after day, forever, eternally.

Hell is very cold.

Now if that doesn’t make you hungry, I don’t know what will.

Oh, and It’s Still Gizzvember

Yes, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is officially my new favorite band. They’ve played the soundtrack to my writing, whether it’s bluesy boogie, hard rock, or heavy metal. I’ve listened to all 23 of their studio albums, and I’m now working through their live bootleg catalog. My wife is loosing patience with the constant Gizzard playing around the house, so I suppose I’ll have to scale things back eventually.

Side note: When I was proofreading my last email, my computer pronounced “Gizzvember” as “Jizzvember,” which was concerning.

How About You?

Overall, it’s been a fun, if hectic, November thus far. Are you doing NaNoWriMo? If so, let me know!


Kyle A. Massa is a comic fantasy author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife, their daughter, and three wild animals. His published works include three books and several short stories. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading, running, and drinking coffee.

I’m Joining NaNoWriMo 2022

I succeeded once, failed once, and now I’ll be doing one or the other again. NaNoWriMo, here I come!

That stands for National Novel Writing Month, by the way. It begins today and ends when November does. My mission: To write a 50,000-word manuscript in 30 days.

Last Time

Last time I tried NaNoWriMo was 2019. That was the failure.

…Well, I shouldn’t say that. I got about 45k into the book, then quit when I felt it wasn’t working. That was Short Contracts, a book about a sports league in a fantasy setting (not to be confused with fantasy sports). I plan to return to it when the time is right.

I also tried NaNoWriMo in 2017. That was the success. I wrote what Stephen King would call a trunk novel, which is one of those books you finish but save for later. It’s called Upstate and a While Back. Someday I’ll reveal it from the trunk.

The experience was fun but grueling, especially in the latter half of November. 50k words is all about consistency and planning, as I remember, so we’ll see if I’m up to the task.

This Time

This month, I’ll be working on a story called Remembering the End: A Novel of Novel Apocalypse Stories. Think Canterbury Tales, except it’s about worlds ending. Cheery, right?

Honestly, I hope so. I’ve already got a head start on one character’s story, and it’s turned out fairly comic (like most of my stuff). I anticipate the rest to be the same—though I’ve only got vague ideas for them. And when I say vague, I mean super vague. Like, the ending of Mulholland Drive vague.

Anyhoo, I’ll be tracking my progress on this here chart:

NaNoWriMo Progress

Yes, that is Magic: The Gathering artwork in the background. I use it in my MTG articles, but I like the cats, so I’m using it again here.

The Distractions

Over the past year I’ve recalibrated my writing strategy to be less about word count (in fact, I wrote an article all about it). For NaNoWriMo, I’ve got to readjust. Gonna be a challenge for sure.

Also, November is going to be a busy month. Here are some of the non-writing activities I’m doing:

  • November 11: Playing in my first Magic: The Gathering tournament since 2018.
  • November 12: Being a raging fan at the Cortaca Jug game at Yankee Stadium. Go Bombers!
  • November 15: The new Magic set releases online. Always a major distraction.
  • November 24: Thanksgiving. (And my beloved New York Giants are playing the hated Dallas Cowboys.)

Oh yeah, and I still have to work and stuff. Doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re writing 50,000 words in 30 days, you can’t really afford to take time off.

Will I Succeed?

Reply hazy, ask again later. But here’s what I can promise: I’ll be checking in with you throughout the month. Here’s the schedule…

  • November 1: This blog post.
  • November 7: Email newsletter.
  • November 14: Another blog post.
  • November 21: Another email.
  • December 5: An email and blog post summing it all up.

If you want to follow along as I slowly descend into madness, feel free to subscribe to my newsletter below. Wish me luck!


Kyle A. Massa is a comic fantasy author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife, their daughter, and three wild animals. His published works include three books and several short stories. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading, running, and drinking coffee.

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