A few weeks ago I wrote about what to do in November without NaNoWriMo. Well, a former sponsor of NaNoWriMo stepped into the void left by the demise of NaNoWriMo.

ProWritingAid has started Novel November (NovNov), wherein you write a 50,000-word rough draft in 30 days. Sounds familiar, right? Indeed the Novel November dashboard where you enter your daily totals and receive badges for your accomplishments is remarkably reminiscent of the NaNoWriMo dashboard. There are on-line events, groups you can join representative of your genre, and forums.

ProWritingAid also has a commercial product of the same name which helps people write. Now, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It doesn’t write for you like AI, but it’s like your own built-in critique group/editor/beta reader. You can run what you’ve written through ProWritingAid and receive suggestions on grammar, style, etc. You can also set parameters for things you do and don’t want commented on.

I’m sure this is helpful to beginning authors. I know some who use it, but as with other programs of this ilk, I disagree with the grammar suggestions a lot of the time, the style suggestions most of the time, and the punctuation suggestions a great deal. I was well-schooled in grammar in both high school and college, and in the past 15 years I’ve attended more writing workshops than I can count. I trust my judgement–and my editor’s–to find mistakes and know how to correct them.

I know how to tell a story, but I also like having a “structure” for drafting a 50,000-word novel. NaNoWriMo provided that, and NovNov does as well, not to mention the accountability of seeing that you meet those daily goals of at least 1,667 words. If that’s what helps you get started writing your first or a new project, you’ll find it in NovNov. Be prepared, though, for the push to purchase their product.

So, What Am I Writing for NovNov?

I’m not an author with a huge following, but I do have a steady group of followers who buy my books and communicate with me about them. I consider that a success in that my stories are appealing enough to keep people coming back for more.

When I posted about NovNov on social media, the inquiries came: What’s this one about? Is it a new series? Is it a continuation of a previous one? Is it the same characters?

So, this one is about my characters’ (Mai Fisher and Alexei Bukharin) first mission as partners. People had also asked me about that because most of what I’ve written about them centers in the 1980s forward, except for The Devil Passed By, which takes place in 1979.

When I started writing vignettes about these two characters, I wrote about their first mission in 1977. It wasn’t cohesive at all but rather a way for me to develop their personalities and their personal and professional relationships. I managed not to lose those vignettes written in the 1980s and 1990s, and now I’m going to write that story the way it should be written.

The First Mission (working title) involves Mai and Alexei providing security for a the king of a small middle eastern, oil-rich nation who is visiting England to select a boarding school for his daughter, who is his heir. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but the fun part is I get to create a whole new country with its culture, economy, government, etc., as well as work in some post-World War I history.

But it’s also challenging to portray Mai Fisher, in particular, as a newbie in the spy game. I showed some of her lack of experience in The Devil Passed By, but in this new project, we’ll see some self-doubt. She’s not the bad-ass my followers love, but she shows glimmers of it.

I’m excited to finally flesh out a story that I wrote pieces of a long time ago, and I hope that makes my followers happy and wanting more.

Give NovNov a try. I’m finding it comforting.