I'm still plugging away at the novel I started for NaNoWriMo, go me. I'm pretty proud of that. It's starting to go new places, and surprising things keep happening. I'm not much for outlining, but I have a pretty good idea of where things are going when I start out. With short stories, there aren't a whole lot of places to go, but with a novel, things can take off in a number of directions, many of which I hadn't anticipated. This started out as a ghost story, which it still is, but other things are happening now, too.

I'm trying to keep things reined in, though. I don't want it to get out of hand. I'm trying very hard not to make my protagonist a Mary Sue, because it drives me crazy when other writers do that. I don't want her to be too perfect, for things to come too easily for her. Also, I don't want her to be too much like me. Because she's not me.

Another thing I don't like is when too many mythologies get crammed into supernatural stories. It's one of the things I didn't like in the Sookie Stackhouse books, and other series. There will be no vampires or faeries in my novel! But there will be witches. And they will be real witches, not fantasy witches. They can't do anything I can't do. Well, I've never sent a ghost on to the next plane, but in theory, I could. I know how it's done, and that's how my characters are doing it.

Also, there is no hint of romance. I have nothing against romances, but that's not what I want to write. Maybe somewhere down the road, in book two or three (if I ever get there), but that's not the point of the story.

I'm writing something I would want to read. Hopefully, it's something other people will want to read, too.