Pillars of the Earth

A friend highly recommended a book called "Pillars of the Earth" a few months ago and I decided to listen to it on my iPod. After my NaNo in November needed a mental break from thinking about plotlines and characters as I drove to work. If I would've picked up "Pillars" from a bookstore shelf and started in on it, I would've put it down after a while. It's around 900 pages and the audio book is 40 hours long, whereas most are 15 to 20. I kept on listening since my friend raved about it so much. Now I'm well over halfway through it and am glad I didn't quit listening to it. The author, Ken Follett, does a tremendous job of weaving a complex tale of building a cathedral in twelfth century England.
I don't usually outline my stories very deeply, but have seen in "Pillars" how an outline could be of great benefit, provided I could stick to one. Stephen King, my favorite author, doesn't use outlines on his first drafts and he has written thousand page books that have been interesting throughout. I guess that proves that every author has his/her unique style. I like to know where I'm going in a story, either a short story or a 50,000 word NaNo, by the time I'm halfway through it. I just don't usually know how I'll get there.
I'll read more of Ken Follett's books in the future, as I will Stephen King's. I could do worse than to emulate aspects of writing from both of them.

NaNoWriMo part 3

I completed my NaNoWriMo novel on the evening of November 29 - one day ahead of the deadline. During Thanksgiving week I fell behind on my word count several thousand words. On the Friday and Saturday of that week I caught up a little while sitting in Barnes and Noble in Hoover, Alabama for a few hours at a time. Then I averaged 3,000 words a day for four days to finish it. Prior to November I don't think I had ever written 3,000 words in a day. My highest word-count day during NaNoWriMo was 4,800. The whole thing was great fun and I hope to do it again next year.
I was alligned with the Birmingham, Alabama NaNo region and a lot of folks there also hit the 50,000 word goal. One person wrote 20,000 words in the last four days. I was floored by that.
Now I need to edit at least two short stories and get them sent to prospective publishers and edit and revise a novel I completed the first draft on in October. I also need to catch up on a lot of reading, since I was writing in November in times I would otherwise be reading. Several of my favorite authors have new books out - Tess Gerritsen, Patricia Cornwell, and others. If I ever get to write full time maybe I'll finally have time to read as much as I'd like to.