How have I Prepared for SoCNoC?

So, the countdown has begun.  SoCNoC starts on 1 June, and then it is one whole month of writing, and lots of it from my point of view.

To prepare this year, I began eariler, by setting out goals for what I want to accomplish each month.  In June, I have that blocked out for writing a novel, but I have not limited myself to one month for this.  I also still want to get a short story out of the way, but this could be a piece of flash fiction (less that 1000 words), it doesn't have to be big.

My next major preparation was determining what sort of story I wanted to write.  This was decided for me in December, and I have spent some considerable time researching it, because it is set in Greece - not a place I am familiar with, in a time period that was long before men used writing as a form of communicating.  It also involves a mythical creature, so there was research into the type of creature it was, how it came to be, what happened to it, again, this is not actually set in a time period, but is thought to have happened... which makes researching it a little more difficult.

Other things I have done to prepare for SoCNoC is to clear my desk - physically and mentally.  I have finished editing my first major novel, and have that sent away to some people for reading.  It was nice to get it off my desk with a month to spare, because I don't know if I could have handled trying to do Preparation Challenges and editing all at the same time.  I have also set up my laptop so that I can write solely on that, so I am not confined to the computer in the dining room.  I can take it to bed, take it visiting, take it into the lounge, I have more flexibility with it.

Not only have I done all of this, but I am also part of the KiwiWrites team, so I have assisted with setting up of the Preparation Challenges and taken on a couple of extra roles, just to make sure that we get a good flow going into June.

So, this month will be a cruisy one for me, most of my preparation is already done.  Now I get to do the fun things, like the Preparation Challenges.  So join in the anticipation and excitement.