Who’s counting? My defeat at the jaws NaNoWriMo beast..
You win some, you lose some. So long NaNoWriMo, we shall never meet again.
21,136 words in 30 days and I’m a loser. I think not. First of all, I have excuses.
There were layoffs, big ones, in my lovely company and try as I may I couldn’t get over the funk of seeing friends lose their jobs. I happily helped 4 people find employment before the holiday season. You don’t think that took a toll on my word count?
Next I found two new authors that I had to read. How have I missed George Saunders. He’s a freakin’ wizard so I had to fit in one of his books. And that lead me (in a roundabout way) to Fishboy by Mark Richard. How could I not read that once I read the first 3 pages in the library? It’s not my fault I tell ya – I’m innocent.
Then there was this new group of writers that I never knew existed. They slithered out from behind their monitors and gathered for a bi-weekly chat about NaNoProgress. I got so caught up in their stories that I had to read a few. Andy’s is a captivating Thriller/Fantasy book about time travel, M-Lo was writing (he has since changed to something better) about an odd art school student that is too true to not believe, Ryan is working on his WIP, Finding Wayside (check it out www.finding-wayside.com – the entire WIP is up there), Loel is hammering out a very marketable YA Mystery Novel and Chetan is working on bizarre (in a good way) alternate reality dream piece. Who could resist? I couldn’t.
Then, there is all that turkey to be consumed. I had no chance. The proverbial cards (what you haven’t heard the cards proverb? Shame on you.) were stacked against me. There was no way I could win. That is, if winning solely consisted of writing 50,000 words of slop. If you look at what I gained during this month, I think you would have to admit that November was a winner month. Here are 10 things that I learned along the way. I might even expound on a few in later posts.
1) Word counts suck in a first draft. In fact, they are laughable. I know. That isn’t all that NaNoWriMo is about, but it’s what we are judged against, and it’s my blog so I’m saying what I need to make myself feel better. Word Counts suck.
2) I need to fill the well as I write. Movies, books, family, friends, feedback and critique are all a part of my creative process. Of course they need to be figured in to the word count budget and at times they can carry a heavy price.
3) I love deadlines. They keep me going. Deadlines and challenges are not equal in my mind. If this were a deadline, I would have hit it. I don’t mind losing a challenge if there are benefits along the way. This was revelatory to me, a good lesson learned.
4) Wow, a lot of people want to be authors.
5) Wow, a lot only want to do this as a hobby and never seek publication. Who knew?
6) Wow, I’m a cynical old fart.
7) My critiques on a first pass usually consist of “Well, you’ve got something here. I suggest you keep moving and watch for these few things as you go forward. Other than that, just keep writing. And, come back in a few months and I will tell you what I really think.” Don’t keep asking me or I will tell you now and it might hurt. I can leave a blood trail if pestered. Maybe I should’ve been a literary agent. See #6.
8) Writing is not a solitary effort. The community around NaNoWriMo is the most compelling part of the process. That I will forever be grateful for.
9) My first draft writing is getting better. It still completely blows, but it’s better than it was a year ago.
10) It takes more than a month to write a novel. No, seriously, It takes WAY more than a month. But you already knew that didn’t you?
Overall, I’m glad a participated. I won’t be doing it again next November, but I’ll bet right now that I’ll write more than 21,136 words in December. But then again, who’s counting.
