The image above is the eminent and unparalleled John Cleese, who yesterday (Oct. 27) turned 81 years of age. Happiest of birthdays to you, sir.

So, I did a weird thing last week, I signed up for NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month – an event that takes place every November (right in line with MoVember, so maybe I’ll grow a mustache too!).

The idea behind NanoWriMo is to get people writing, to get them used to setting time aside every day to make something out of words. The goal is 50,000 of those words and it’s a goal that I …. I don’t know if I’ll make, because 2020 has not been a good year for me to sit down and right regularly.

Still, I thought I’d give it a go. And if you thought I might use this time to finish the final book of the 30 Stones Saga, well you’d be incorrect.  I’m going to put that on a shelf for a month and try to crank out the first draft of what will be book 1 of The Shambles – a Young Adult trilogy I’ve been nuggeting around in my head for almost a year.

The Shambles follows Earnest, a young man who discovers that he is capable of harnessing The Shambles, a level of matter so minute, that if one can control it, one can do what can only be called, magic. Now, I don’t have a lot on this yet, despite thinking about it for so long, but let me tell you a bit about it.

Once upon a time there were 100 people who could harness The Shambles. Each is effectively immortal barring some horrible accident. Once a magician takes an apprentice, however, they’ve cast their lot with mortality. If a magician dies without taking an apprentice, their line is lost. By the time we meet Earnest, there are only 26 magicians left.

The story will take place in modern day, or at least start there. It’s all very up in the air right now, but let me describe The Shambles as best I may. If you are of an age, you may remember when the Atom was the smallest building block of matter. In the late 20th century, the Quark took its place as the smallest. The Shambles is perhaps another half dozen steps below the Quark – all of them as yet undiscovered, but leading to science that is far enough developed to be considered magic.

So, that’s what I’ll be working on in November. With any luck … with a lot of luck, I will have a draft of book one nearly complete. I’m looking at 50,000-60,000 words for a finished product, unlike the 30 Stones Saga which range from 90,000 to 120,000.

If you’re looking for a new challenge next month, check out NaNoWriMo, and come find me. It’ll be fun.