There’s been a severe lack of NaNo blog posts this year, with only three days to kick-off. In past years there seemed to be plenty. I used to get a bit snooty and condescending about it, like ‘proper’ writers wouldn’t stoop to favouring quantity over quality.

(Sorry – if you’re from Mars, November is National Novel Writing Month and you are a winner if you bash out 50,000 words in the month.)

But this year I’ve signed up. The main (and only) reason is that my writing has shuddered to a halt and I need something to kick me into action again. A West Cork Mystery launches on 1^st December but otherwise I have two incomplete manuscripts on the shelf and I’m just not getting to them.

So what will I write about? I’ve decided on Barry 2, a sequel to my first book Barry. It should be fun and it will be interesting to see how I’ve developed – or indeed regressed – since that came out in 2010. (It sold spectacularly well whilst on free offer the other week).

I wrote that first book before I had any idea that there was method in writing. I just wrote a beginning, a middle and an end. I’ve since been told that I ought  to Write What I Know, Adverbs Are The Devil’s Work, Show Don’t Tell and a zillion other pieces of advice and instruction. Some of it I’ve adopted, other stuff I’ve come to filter out and regard as optional, or plain wrong. I wonder how original and sequel will compare.

1,667 words a day is good going. But on the very first day of the month I have a 12-mile run to do, followed by lots of sports commentaries to listen to, so even before November I’m going to cheat. You’re not meant to pick up your pen until the 1^st but I’m starting on Friday 31^st.

Then there’s the Amnesty Film Festival which runs throughout a week of the month, so I might have to miss out this year.

You might sense my commitment isn’t what it might be but I’ll let you know. Anyone else signed up?