NaNoWriMo17 – The Good and The Bad

So, I have been gone for an entire month. I had high hopes of providing content and working on my 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month. As you can see, that didn’t happen. I found it too much to write for the blog and write this book I started for NaNoWriMo. I hope you enjoy this recap and I will see you next week.

Because I am mostly an optimist, let’s start with The Good.

• I finished and reached my goal of 50,000 words. I won NaNoWriMo17!
• I wrote the beginnings of three books.
• The original story for this year was finished.

So, now The Bad

• I wrote three different stories?
• I did not write every day.
• I didn’t connect with other writers as much as I would have liked.

Now that is over, I am just glad The Bad list wasn’t longer than The Good List! I was thinking of how terrible I felt the month went, as far as writing, so that was not a given. I started the month with a loosely developed plan that relied mostly on me writing by the seat of my pants. There is a name for this. It is referred to as Pantsing. I thought this was a good plan, and it was in some aspects. It just wasn’t enough to really be able to flesh out the story I wanted to write. Or I have the wrong idea about what I was trying to write. Fleshing out my plan for the story, how it would look, flow, and sound, would have probably fixed the first item on The Bad list. Combatting the second item on that list really takes me scheduling a writing time and sticking to it. I think I will just fit in the writing and it never seems to work well for very long. Many more experienced writers have talked about having a writing time scheduled and treating it like the time you block out for picking up the kids, or going to the gym. In other words, treat that scheduled time as important and not as something you can move around and ignore. Some writers use productivity apps to give them a visual reminder of what they want to accomplish and what they have accomplished. I find that doesn’t help me much because I feel like the set up takes way too much time. I am probably just being lazy. As for the last item on The Bad list, there was nothing I could do in preparation for this one. I of course planned to be involved in write-ins around town but life just conspired against me. Yes, I know life isn’t actually conspiring, but the phrase has a very nice ring to it. The month was just filled with personal fires that had to be extinguished and kept me from attending as many events as I would have like.

Frankly, I had an extremely hard time finishing this year. The story felt disjointed and like I never really knew what I was writing. I find that being able to write in the company of others, really helps to keep you going and inspire you too. I wouldn’t want to spend all my time writing with others, I am sure that I would find that tedious. But it does act as a refresher for your writer’s soul when you can write collectively. If I work on remedying items from The Bad list, I wouldn’t feel so sad about winning. I feel false about it. Yet, I do understand that I shouldn’t. Even if I wrote 50,000 words that will never actually make it into a story, I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days. Part of NaNoWriMo really is fostering a habit of writing and committing you to writing. It is like a kick in the pants to finish that story you have been working on at night, on you lunch break, and at your kid’s soccer practice. The one you feel will never be finished, the one you have shoved into the back of your mind and a drawer in your closet.

So, I am going to stop crying over spilled milk, as they say, and be content with what I did and endeavor to work on the stories until I feel they are finished. I am also going to write everyday in December too. There is no national event, but I want to work on writing daily by starting small. I didn’t make it in November, maybe I will in December. You all can keep me accountable.