NaNoWriMo: Done!
December 1, 2011
Now that November is over and the final month of the year is upon us, I’m happy to report that my first attempt at NaNoWriMo was a success. 53,874 is the final word count, or at least that’s what it says on my word processor, and I’m sticking with that.
I’ve made it, and at 11:59pm last night I was giving myself a mental pat on on the back for a job well done, but somehow I still feel like I missed my mark. I may have pounded out the 50K words, but ultimately I didn’t finish my novel, and in fact I think there’s about another third to go in this story. So even though I’m done, I still don’t exactly feel that I’m “done” done, and I don’t think I will be truly satisfied until I finish for real — and *sigh*, who knows when that will be.
Do I think I’ll participate in NaNoWriMo again in later years? Definitely. Though, I had no idea how time-consuming it was until I actually did it for myself. In truth, I really shouldn’t have done it this year. It was a crazy month, and in my stubbornness to reach my NaNo goal, I’m sure I overextended — sleep was lost, art commissions are a little behind, household chores were neglected, other hobbies took a backseat, etc. In the future, I’m going to have to think long and hard and evaluate my November schedule before I make the commitment again.
Still, my first ever NaNo was a wonderful experience. No only did it give me a chance to write, it also taught me a a great deal about myself. Apparently, having a deadline is the key. It’s something I’m going to keep in mind for December, or in the new year, if I want to finish my novel. But for now, it’s time to relax.
Congratulations! The deadline of course if really the whole point of NaNoWriMo. You get a target date and community support and hopefully it’s enough to motivate you to do what you always wanted to do.
No comes the fun part: rewrites.
Put it an a drawer for a month first though.
Yep, deadline and community support. Those two things were the most effect motivators for me. I had some really amazing writing buddies on my list too, whenever I saw their word counts go up, it would inspire me to write
Congratulations! I’d like to try it at least once, but so far I’ve never had anything like the needed spare time.
Yeah definitely try at least once. I mean, you can’t really “lose” in this, even the folks I know who don’t reach the 50k goal come away happy that they participated. And for some, they get into it and they find themselves really involved.
Ha I lated for fourteen days and then got writers block combined with some story issues. Ended up with just over 13k
Ugh, I hate writer’s block. I’m having it now, and it’s preventing me from finishing the novel. But it may also be because NaNo’s over and I just burned out or don’t feel the urgent drive anymore. At least my block hit after November was over.
But you did a great job too, 13K is nothing to scoff at. And I read your work on your blog, it looked great!
Congratulations on reaching the target. And good luck finishing the book!
Thank you! I’m gonna try!
I wrote like ten hours on the final day to ensure that I also finished in time, but I have no regrets. It was such a great feeling of accomplishment.
Congrats to you! It is such a big deal to do something of that magnitude.