Lost and Not Found is available in paperback, as an audio book, and as an eBook.
Within the first few pages of Lost and Not Found the main character learns about a group of people who, once a year, attempt to write an entire novel within the space of a single month. In the novel, the month they attempt to accomplish this feat in is the most difficult of months: February. In reality, such a group exists, but they (or should I say, we) attempt to write a novel in the somewhat less aggressive month of November. I can tell you from personal experience that between the two extra days and the long Thanksgiving weekend (here in the US), November offers quite an advantage over the situation I wrote my characters into.
The real-life event is called National Novel Writing Month, or just NaNoWriMo for short. According to this page, in 2007 there were over 100,000 participants from all over the world, and at least 15,000 of them “won” – writing an entire novel from scratch in under one month. In 2007, I was one of the 85% who didn’t finish in time (I was about 20k words in when I decided to run off to Vegas the first week of December and get married – the other two weeks I should have been writing were spent planning a wedding!), though I have thrown my hat in the ring every year since NaNoWriMo 2002, and have “won” about half the time so far. Lost and Not Found, in fact, contains most of my first NaNoWriMo novel, from 2002, as well as a fictionalized version of the process of writing that novel.
In reality, my path had some real differences from the main character of Lost and Not Found. For example, in November of 2002, after a week of working on my first attempt I gave up, threw that attempt out and started from scratch. Then, after another two weeks working on my second attempt, I gave up, threw that attempt out and started from scratch again. Then, with only 8 days left, and with two failed attempts already under my belt for that month (not to mention two previous attempts to write a novel in a month, outside of NaNoWriMo), I wrote an entire novel from start to finish in under eight days. In Lost and Not Found, the main character only makes two attempts to complete NaNoWriMo in time, not three.
Of course, keep in mind that what you write in November (and I encourage anyone who’s ever thought they might give writing a try to try NaNoWriMo) is only a first draft. I worked for another year (right up to NaNoWriMo 2003, actually) on trying to turn that first draft into the story I wanted to tell. In that time, it doubled in length and took on several layers of depth, symbolism, and a matured character arc for the main character. The final product is as much about the writing process and the pressures and challenges of writing as it is about love and relationships and fairy-tale endings.
If you want to learn more about NaNoWriMo, or if you want to be inspired to try your hand at writing, I recommend two things: 1) Go to NaNoWriMo.org and read what they have to say about it, and sign up. 2) Read Lost and Not Found, available now in paperback, as a free eBook, and as a serialized audiobook.
(Note: Episodes 1 and 2 of the Lost and Not Found audiobook, which you can get here from Podiobooks.com, really have the most information about the month-long novel idea – just remember that in the book it’s February, and in real life it’s November.)
