I got hit by the shower.

Now, it might be a combination of the sinus meds I took the night before, or the washing away of 24-hours worth of sick-toddler stress, or maybe my new shampoo really is that good — regardless what magical hands were at work during my morning shower, I was struck with the biggest plot revelation that, so far, answers many of the kinks I had in my NaNo story.

It also raises its fair share of questions, too. But these questions are ones I think I can find… through research.

So that’s where I am now. Instead of churning out 50K, I’m going to focus my efforts this month on making sure I understand how a real person in my character’s shoes would act. Medically and psychologically. It’s much easier to start building the foundation of my story with bricks made of real life nuggets, than with crap that holds no weight. Yes?

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take liberties, but with this particular plot string in my WIP, I really need to weave in the authentic details and that starts with studying up. College-style. I’ve reserved a whole slew of reference materials from my library, rented movies that seem to have the atmosphere and character mannerisms I’m looking for, and created separate playlists to channel my characters’ energy. And I have more than enough leftover Halloween candy, coffee, and tea to aid in the process.

What about you? What kind of research do you do, if any, to make your story more believable? Do you do it prior to writing the first draft or during revisions to tweak the details?

I think I can do. No–take that back. I know I can do it. But I’ll admit it was easier in the beginning to get the words down. And really it wasn’t until two days ago that it got hard. My problem is that a chatty muse woke me up at 6am with a brilliant story to tell…in a genre I don’t write. At least not yet. I’ve been hand-writing some scenes in a journal as they come to me just to appease the muse that won’t shut up, but I’m keeping mum about it until NaNo’s over. Then it’s off to another world!

But I wanted to focus on what this month is all about:  Giving Thanks.

There’s so much I’m thankful for, too many to name in this post, but with the help of NaNo I’ve come to realize that there’s still some gusto in me.  Since I seriously started writing in April, I can honestly say I’ve never written this many words before in one piece.  I’ve gotten really close, and I’m sure if you add up all my partially-started stories and put them together in one  document (albeit, a really incomprehensible document), I’d probably have an encyclopedia-length book.

But the beauty of this little thing called NaNo is that it forces you to dig deep and get it all out. November’s been the most trying and stressful month, but also the most complete. November’s filled with lots of coffee, chocolate, Sour Patch watermelons, late nights, mental breakdowns, fits of self-inflicted ego bashing, turkey, and typing. November’s torn me apart and glued me together. And it’s breathtakingly gorgeous. November has reinforced to me that I’ve truly found my own passion.

Writing.

And aside from my beautiful family, writing is what I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving. The gift of words has provided me with more connection to myself than anything I could’ve imagined. I believe it makes me a better citizen, a better wife, a better mother…a better me.

So I raise my glass…er, turkey leg…and say:

Thank you November.