NaNoWriMo Wrap-up

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I have come a long way as a writer in the last four years. I have finally become a year-round writer. (As of this month I have written over 113,000 words so far this year!) I am not afraid to call myself a writer. I have put in the work and time and, though I may not have a book published yet, I AM a writer. I have 5 NaNo wins under my belt to prove it (to myself if nothing else).

My motivation for the month was a printout of the image below. This is my 2014 NaNoWriMo progress graph, also the first year I attempted to write fiction. As you can see I got off to a super slow start because I had no idea HOW to write fiction and I just plain had NO IDEA for a plot of any sort. I seriously doubted I could ever catch up once I got started and then around the 25k mark, I began to question whether I had a workable plot at all (I really didn’t), so I didn’t write anything for a few days. Seeing this graph and how I beat the odds, no matter how badly they were stacked against me, kept me going this month. My present-self would like to take this opportunity to thank my 2014-self for sticking it out and winning because if I hadn’t done it back then, I’m not sure I would have believed I could do it this year.

This year was vastly different than the others. I was calmer through the entire month, and I kept thinking how strange it was that I wasn’t freaking out about being behind. Maybe it has to do with being FEARLESS this year. Maybe it is because four years of history have helped me realize there is no need to panic because it IS doable.

So, in case there was any doubt, here is how I did THIS year.

I did not meet my personal goal of finishing the entire first draft of this novel. I kind of stop expecting to do that after the slow start and the lack of planning during Prep-Tober. I feel like this novel was the closest I have ever been to writing a complete story arc in a first draft. I don’t hate the novel yet and may try to finish plotting it out and writing the other thirty to fifty thousand words it will need to be a true novel length draft. I think I might be able to manage that, maybe even by the end of the year, but we will see.

If you have never tried writing 50,000 words in a month, I highly recommend giving it a try. Winning gives the feeling of accomplishment we all crave and it makes you feel like you can accomplish anything you set out to do. You also get cool swag like the graphic below!

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