Mid-November and I've finally accepted that 169 words does not constitute much of a contribution to this year's NaNo WriMo event.

I had good intentions but then practicality got in the way. I know excuses, excuses but before I wallow in guilt and contraband chocolate, I'd like to point out (to myself) that; One Nano is supposed to be a fresh new work and I'm a third of the way through my WIP and would really like to keep going and two, I've got one complete novel gathering dusty bunnies galore that could use an outing or two to a couple of agents (after all they've got a quiet month what with all the other writers beavering away on their 50,000 word targets).

And that's the point I'd really like to make. This complete novel with its metaphorical layers of dust got good reviews from two independent witnesses and a dozen rejections, although with positive comments, from publishers and agents is complete.

One piece of sage advice I've heard several times is when you've finished your ms, put it away for six months and then revisit … try a couple of years.

So this month I haven't written 50,000 new words but I've done a darned good job of repackaging and rewriting 93,000 with all the things I've learnt from blogs, writing seminars and workshops over the last two years. I've submitted it to an agent and now I wait … but I can crack on with new WIP with the knowledge that Nano WriMo or not I've made good use of the last 11 days.