Rising to the #NaNoWriMo Challenge

“What’s that,” you say?  No, NaNoWriMo is not something out of Mork and Mindy.  And, yes, I did date myself by referencing that quirky sitcom piloted wayyyyy wayyyy back in 1982, but ultimately I digress.  #NaNoWriMo is a challenge to pen a 50,000 word novel throughout the entire month of November.  Call it what you will, but I love a good a challenge and a challenge is precisely what I needed to finally hammer out my novel, When it Comes in Threes.  This story has rested dormant on my computer for a long while because a literary manager friend implored me to change the narrative voice of my original book from an adult to a child for the YA market.  If you are a writer, you know changing the whole “voice” of an entire novel is not a simple request.  You also know that ultimately changing the voice means a full rewrite, despite what your friend tells you.  So, rewriting I am and I’m having one heck of time doing it.  Truth is, I prefer this new voice and my new main character, Barley, over the older character I first concocted, and that means I can’t wait to get back to her every night to mold her and shape her to be anything I want her to be.

#NaNoWriMo and everything about it, appeals to my competitive spirit and my ability to thrive on chaos.  Why the chaos you ask?  Well, silly, one chapter takes me somewhere around 4-6 hours to write, hone and edit, and all that equates to writing into the wee hours of the night when daily parenting, business obligations, phone calls and texts don’t nag and pull at my heartstrings.  I’m working from my home office and spending some days an unshowered, make-up-less mess, but I think I can manage to get it all done.  If you are competing in the challenge too, and are someone managing to stay somewhat afloat with everything else that comes up during any given day, drop me a line.  I’d love to hear from you.  Happy Noveling!

Nano-Nano.

Author: Tonia Allen Gould

About Tonia Allen Gould Tonia Allen Gould is a writer, public speaker, entrepreneur, and investigative voice who tells the stories most people are afraid to touch. She is the author of the award-winning children’s book Samuel T. Moore of Corte Magore and the CEO of TAGSOURCE, LLC, a 31-year-old marketing agency specializing in branded merchandise and consumer promotions. Her career spans national recognition as a top thought leader in the promotional products industry and a columnist role at InformationWeek, where she explored digital risk, corporate overreach, and organized fraud. Today, Tonia’s most powerful work emerges at the intersection of truth and trauma. A survivor of stalking, financial fraud, and systemic erasure, she uses her voice—and platform—to expose the systems that silence women who speak out. Her work-in-progress, Invasive Species, is an intense, genre-bending narrative of survival, hypervigilance, and reclaiming personal power. Through storytelling, advocacy, and an unflinching gaze, Tonia invites readers into a world where justice isn’t guaranteed—but the pursuit of it is relentless. Learn more at ToniaAllenGould.com TAGSOURCE.COM View all posts by Tonia Allen Gould