Literary Lunes Magazine: December 2011 Issue Read online

A Trip to Nanoland

  By JA Clement

  My name is JA Clement. This is my fourth Wrimo; the first year I failed at 12k, the second I just about made it to 50k, last year I did 70k – and this year my day job has got right in the way so I’m aiming at 20k new stuff written and progress on the edits of my next publication (second book in my fantasy series). 

  In previous years I’ve had the time to just sit and write furiously, on the train, in my lunchtimes, in the evenings....it’s SO exhilarating to watch the word count stack up! I’ve been to meet-ups and accidentally got made an honorary member of Alaska; I’ve had the cover made for my first (self-published) book by a fellow Wrimo-er from Singapore – it’s a joyful madness, NaNoWriMo! 

  This year, my job has eaten my life; there is no such thing as lunchtime or free evenings, but no way am I missing out on the fun so I’ve gone to plan B which is aiming for 20k words, and tapping away furiously on the Blackberry during my 2hour commute in the evenings...my thumbs have never been so toned!!

  The first novella of my fantasy series On Dark Shores is available on Amazon with the second due to follow around New Year. This year’s effort is the first (very rudimentary) draft of Book 4, which means I can’t tell you much about it for fear of spoilers – but here’s a snippet of what I’ve written so far....

  “He strode on as fast as he dared, the feeble light of his lantern barely lighting a way across the muddy ground. The nocturnal shrieks of the foxes grated on his nerves. They were unearthly, inhuman; and in his uneasiness, the sound of the rain on the leaves overhead was beginning to sound eerily like the patter of stealthy footsteps, following him.... Of course it was his imagination; but he could not rid himself of the feeling that there was something near him in the muffled blackness of the wood. Fear trailed, icy, down his spine and for a moment he could not think why. Then he realised; the rain had stopped long since; but the pattering footsteps had not. ”