NaNo What!?!

Very sorry for my unexplained absence last week. I was deep in the throes of NaNoWriMo and the week flew by before I realized it and then I found I hadn’t posted anything on this little blog o’ mine.


So are you scratching your head and thinking…NaNo What!?!

Every November people around the globe participate in NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s a 30 day challenge to get people working on the books they want to write.

For at least the last two years I have had the goal of finishing my novel. And, for at least the last two years I have failed at that goal. Sure, I fiddled around with it and wrote a little bit, but I never could get it done.

This year I made the same goal and was coming up with the same results. However, I have surrounded myself this year with people who are in varying stages of their writing careers and I have been so inspired and encouraged by these people. Being inspired I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo and set out to complete 50,000 words on this novel of mine.

I’m proud to announce that at 11:54pm on November 30 I hit 50,076 words! Having done that I am convinced that I can plug through another 40-50 thousand more to complete the first draft before the end of the year. After years of thinking and dreaming about it I am finally moving the dream forward.

Today I thought I’d share with you some of the things I’ve learned during the past month.

1. The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to get the story on paper.



2. The more I write, the easier it comes. A friend told me that he had learned this when he set a word count goal for himself and as I went through November I found it to be true. On Wednesday, Nov 30 I pounded out over 8,000 words from 5pm to 11:54pm.



3. Once I was immersed in the story it began to unfurl like a flower in the early morning light. Things began to happen that fit the story, but I hadn’t planned ahead of time. It is much like real life where our best laid plans sometimes take twists and turns.



4. Failure comes only from not trying.



Overall, the month flew by but was a great month. There were moments when I wasn’t sure I could do it and there were moments when I didn’t want to. I persevered and am so glad I did!