Now What?

I just spent the last thirty days working on a novel. I woke up early every single day to write before work - well okay, every day but one. I wrote every day, multiple times a day exceeding my own expectations, writing further than I thought I could, writing beyond what I had outlined.

Here's what I learned:

1. I am capable of getting out of bed an hour early every day to write. I am not a morning person. But it's what I need to do to make the time to write.

2. Though I am a night owl, I had some of my most productive writing sessions before the sun came up. Evenings, for me, are full of distractions and temptations I can't resist (read: prime time television) If I want to make writing part of my day, mornings may be my answer. And coffee of course.

2. A little brainstorming goes a long way. I never thought taking ten minutes to think about my writing could be all that beneficial. But several times this month, I picked up a pen and paper and just started writing my next scene. In just a few minutes time, I gave myself a jump start on what I could work on writing that night when I had more than ten minutes. It helped me overcome that glaze of starting at the cursor, trying to figure out where to begin.


So now what? For starters, I need a break from this story. I need to set it aside and come back to it in a few weeks with a fresh eye before I can do any editing and revising. I hope to get it to a point where I can consider submitting it for publication, but optimistically, that is a way down the road.

One thing I do know, is I'm ready to start working on something else. While working on this novel I've had a few other ideas emerge, ideas I'd like to explore and see where I can take them. Perhaps the biggest challenge of NaNoWriMo is to keep the writing momentum going.

But in the end, I have a novel. A beginning, a middle, and a end. 350+ pages of my ideas down on paper. And that's a really good feeling.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Winner

I did it! I finally won NaNoWriMo and wrote (slightly over) 50,000 words in 30 days.

In the three years I've participated, this is the first year I won.

The end of November and National Novel Writing Month coincided nicely with the end of my novel. While the novel is far from being done, I finally wrote my way to the end of the story I've been trying to write for four years - that is an even bigger accomplishment than the 50,000 words!

Too tired to reflect any deeper tonight. Right now, I need a break from writing!

NaNoWriMo: Day 29

Almost There!

Words written today: 3,221
Total NaNo2011 word count: 47,800
Words to go to 50,000: 2,200 with 1 day remaining
Total Novel word count: 72,274
Percent Complete: 96%

NaNoWriMo: The Final Days

November is almost over, that means National Novel Writing Month is coming to an end.

I've already written beyond my outline, beyond where I saw the story ending. Back at 13,000 words to go, I thought I didn't have that many words left in this story - but since then I've written my way through half of that.

While I got a lot of writing done over the long weekend, I've been dealing with a stomach bug that cost me a whole day of writing. 

Right now I'm at 43,690 words. It seems impossible not to make it after getting this close. There are only two days left and I still have 6310 words left to write in order to reach the 50,000 word goal. I have no idea how I'm going to do it. But I guess I'd better get started at finishing this thing...

Words written today: 1,960
Total NaNo2011 word count: 43,690
Words to go to 50,000: 6,310 with 2 days remaining
Total Novel word count: 68,164
Percent Complete: 87% 

NaNoWriMo Day 20

I've been trying to get caught up this weekend, and now I'm back on track. I'd like to get some more writing in today, so I can get ahead. But it feels good to not be behind anymore!

It's also a good feeling to be on the other side of the halfway point and inching closer to the 50,000 word mark. I have to step back for a moment and recognize that I've written over 33,000 words so far this month! Even if I don't win NaNoWriMo this year, that in itself is quite an accomplishment!

Words written today: 2,459
Total NaNo2011 word count: 33,372
Words to go to 50,000: 16,628 with 10 days remaining
Total Novel word count: 57,846
Percent Complete: 67%

NaNoWriMo Day 19

So I've had some pretty pitiful word counts the past few days and I've fallen behind. I've dedicated this weekend to getting caught up so I can get back on track - and, if I'm lucky, get ahead!

I spent at least three and half hours writing today but I'm still a bit behind. Here are my stats:

Words Written Today: 2,698
Total NaNo 2011 Word Count: 30,913 (Should be 31,673)
Words to go: 19,087
Total Novel word Count: 55,387
Percent Complete: 62%

I'm getting very close to the end of the novel. I only have a few scenes left in my outline. I'm worried I may not have 19,087 words left to tell of this story, although that would put me right at a great novel length (I've read most editors look for the 75,000-120,000- word ballpark for an adult novel.)

Of course an outline is only an outline and I may find I have much more to tell. The only the way to know is to write my way through it!

NaNoWriMo Week 2 Wrapup

Week two is traditionally harder than week one: the novelty wears off, you find yourself daydreaming while at the keyboard - fantasizing about doing something, anything but writing!

I'm officially behind! I've been meaning to catch up the weekends, but that hasn't worked so far.

I find I'm having my best writing sessions in the morning. In the morning I'm fresh and not too tired from my day, or distracted by prime time television. If I could get out of bed even earlier, say an hour and a half, I could start meeting my daily goals in the morning (but that means I'd have start going to bed earlier too!)

Here are my current standings:

Total NaNoWriMo 2011 word count: 22,152
Words to Go: 27,848
Total Novel word count: 47,636
Percent Complete: 44%

NaNoWriMo Week 1 Wrap up

I have to say, I think week one of NaNoWriMo 2011 was a success.

I've been finding success with having two (or more) writing sessions a day. I'm no early bird, but every day I've gotten out of bed an hour early to spend some time writing before starting my day. In these morning sessions, I've been able to write a few hundred word (and today 1002!) so that when I sit down for my evening session, I have a less intimidating word count goal.

I must admit I'm starting to slow down a bit. Although I'm following the outline I created before the start of NaNoWriMo, I'm realizing I made need to change the order of events and that I need to add some subplot action. I'm trying to put these thoughts out of my head and just keep writing - I know I can always add subplot and rearrange the sequence of scenes later!

Here's where I stand:

Total NaNoWriMo 2011 word count:  15,020
Words to Go: 34,980
Total Novel word count: 39,472
Percent Complete: 30%

I'm on track so far!

NaNoWriMo Day 4

This morning, I had a great writing session. I've been engaged in the writing since the start of NaNoWriMo, but today was the first time since November 1st that I was really inside the scene. Other writing sessions, there have been interruptions, or I've been preoccupied, eyeing the clock to make sure I'm staying on schedule. This morning was solid hour of writing where the real world fell away and I was right in that room with my characters, walking around amongst them. It's an exciting feeling to feel that the story is already there in your mind, you just have to get out of the way and get it down on paper.

Some days, sitting at the laptop and getting the story to come out can be painful. Those days, the writing doesn't come easy and often, that's when your personal Critic comes in and starts telling you to give up. Other days, the writing feels effortless. Days like this remind me why the difficult days are worth it. And you have to get through those not-so-easy writing sessions to break through to the great ones.

That's what's great about NaNoWriMo - if I didn't have this goal to write every day and to write the next 50,000 words of my novel by November 30th, I probably wouldn't have been at my laptop at 6 o'clock this morning.

Words written today: 2,240
Total NaNo 2011 word Count: 8,689
Words to go: 41,311
Total Novel word count: 33,141,
Percent Complete: 17%

NaNoWriMo 2011 Kickoff: Day 1

Today marked the kickoff of National Novel Writing Month 2011. My goal for this year is to write the next 50,000 words of (and hopefully finish) the second half of the draft of my novel. I knew I couldn't just wake up on November 1st and pick up where I left off from the last time I wrote (which was over a week ago.) So last night, I prepared by doing some outlining. It got me thinking of the progression of the second half of the story, and how I will lay everything out. This is one thing I got hung up on last year that prevented me from reaching the 50,000 word goal. Now that I have more clear direction, I think 50,000 will be more achievable.

I set the alarm an hour earlier than usual to give myself some time to write before heading to the office this morning. By the time I hit the snooze a few times, fired up the laptop and made a cup of coffee, I was nearly a half-hour late getting started. I was able to write 999 words in about forty-five minutes, 668 words shy of the daily goal.

I was a bit discouraged by that low number. But I came home from work, fired up my laptop again and exactly twelve hours after my morning writing session, started writing again. Despite some technical difficulties and a reboot, I wrote another 1009 words for a total of 2008 words today. Now I'm back on track.

Words Written Today: 2,008
Words to go to 50,000: 47,922
Total Novel word count: 26,460
Percent Complete: 4%

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of National Novel Writing Month has to bring!

NaNoWriMo 2011

Next month is National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words in just 30 days. That's 1,776 words a day, every day, for thirty days straight.

This will be my third year participating in NaNoWriMo. Though I haven't yet won and achieved the 50,000 word goal, NaNoWriMo has helped me get into the practice of writing every day which is an achievement in itself. My goal this year is to (finally) finish the novel I currently have in the works.

In preparation, I blew the dust off of my draft and have started planning so I can pick up where I left off.

Here's a great checklist I found on the blog of S.M. Worth to get yourself ready for NaNoWriMo 2011.