I keep telling myself that as I frantically prepare for NaNoWriMo , which is suddenly only a week away. I am nowhere close to having a tale to tell, so any bit of help is a blessing. I'm not talking about maid service or a private chef, though both would be nice. I just need something to help me focus and simplify what seems like a huge challenge this year.   Available on Amazon To that end, I was enormously pleased to dig into a gorgeous and tightly written eBook called The 30-Day Novel by Merrie Destefano .  It's a short book, hitting all the usual highlights of planning a novel, but in a brisk and concise way. Under 100 pages, some of which are clever MidJourney AI steampunk images and pages for notes, the book covers these topics: Chapter One: Make A Commitment  Chapter Two: Make A Plan  Chapter Three: Plotting Versus Discovery  Chapter Four: Story Building  Chapter Five: Character Building.  Chapter Six: World Building  Chapter Seven: Ma...