NANOWRIMO: The Aftermath and Lessons Learned

Well, NANOWRIMO was not exactly what I'd hoped it would be. As usual, life happened and I was beset by health issues and sick kids.

I did get about 6,000 words into the novel (fantasy) I was writing. I also began a new short story this past month (horror/scifi), and have about 4,000 words, and I will need another 1,000 to finish it off, which I hope to do this week. 

This may be the most I've written in any month. Pretty good for me!

This is only the second time I've attempted NANO. I will not do it again. The reasons are:

• I learned much of what I needed to learn--for example, yes, I can write every day (at least a little!) for two weeks in a row. (That's where my streak ended when I was sidelined with back and neck pain.)
• I learned that when you DO write more frequently, it is easier to keep up your enthusiasm, and easier to see yourself improving.
• I learned that the NANO forums and particularly the Facebook page were a colossal time waste. The messages coming through to the FB page were mostly inane. My local forum was not at all user friendly.

I will continue to write more frequently. I will continue to foster relationships with other serious writers. 

I will get the short story draft done this week, and run it past my critique group. Then, I have a market I may submit it to if it passes muster.

Then back to the novel.

I'll do my best to stay focused, and get these projects done.

And know that life is always going to happen. 

Getting Ready for NANOWRIMO

NANOWRIMO, for those of you who don't know, is short for "National Novel Writing Month." That's right--November is reserved for millions of insane people who decide they are going to give up sleep, television, socializing, and other vestiges of humanity for an entire month--all so that they can write a 50,000 word first draft of a novel..

For the math challenged, that is an average of 1,666 words per day.

Of course, even if (and that's a BIG if) I get to 50,000 words by Dec.1, I'll have just that. A big pile of words. You're not supposed to edit as you go, so it will be the draftiest draft that ever was. And December will be the beginning of editing the morass.

I've got to get to outlining (because as usual, I've joined this party late) but for any of you who want to follow my progress, feel free to come here for periodic updates.

I can tell you this:

• I'll be consuming vast amounts of coffee.
• I'm writing a contemporary fantasy novel.
• The working title is Fragments.
• I plan to get up at 5 am every morning and spend an hour writing (I have to get up 6 am on weekdays for my kids.)
• Coffee.
• I plan to judiciously split my time between the paying the job and doing this (instead of letting the paying job creep in and spending more time on it than I need, which often happens.)
• Giving up evening TV--except for the Walking Dead. Because The Walking Dead.
• Coffee.

Wish me luck!!