What I learned about NaNoWriMo

I just completed my first ever NaNoWriMo. I feel euphoric. It was an amazing experience and I'm so glad I did it. If I have the time I'd do it again next year.

All of that said, I don't think I could write like that every month. I did only the bare minimum of things outside of writing the first couple of weeks. I had family the last week of the month, but aside from that week, I let a lot of things slide.

I won!

I did it. I wrote 50K of a novel in the month of November. I even have a nifty little web badge that says so.

I rule the world.

NaNoWriMo DAy 5

Five days into NaNo and I'm questioning which direction to take the plot. Three chapters in is the sticking point I've read; that apparently continues to be true for me.

 Instead of sitting down to figure it out, I've been sewing my daughter's homecoming dress.  After much fussing with the placement of the little midriff piece ( she's too small for it) and breaking four needles on the stupid invisible zipper foot all that left is to hem it. She loves, loves, loves the dress (yes, she talks just like that, complete with hand gestures) so I don't mind much. Here's the photo from the pattern envelope. Alas, it will be quite cold tomorrow night and she will be forced to hide her adorable taffeta ruffles under a coat.

Tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow is the first day of November and, more importantly, the first day of NaNoWriMo. I have an outline. I've changed it so radically that, twice, I simply began a new document rather than try and edit what I had. I believe it's been better with every version. I have the shiny new Scrivener Beta. I love it. I know it's a beta and it's crashed a few times and not everything is working yet. But it is wonderful for plotting. It has a nifty board for notecards that I can drag and drop into the proper place, adding ideas and research as I go. That act of looking at the cards and rearranging them gave me such clarity. My NaNo book is an old idea I've been kicking around for months, but it never felt right. Now, I've fixed the huge plot holes large enough to drive my minivan through and I at least have a plan come tomorrow morning.

In the spirit of NaNo and writing even if you aren't sure what you'll end up with, here's a post from the Deadline Dames on not being discouraged, even if what you wrote yesterday doesn't seem that great.

And for the times when even that seems hard to believe: something pretty and silly


Happy November!!

Kate Walker has a great post up on the pivotal moments of the Final Four in the New Voices contest. I'll say some of the choices surprised (not in a bad way) me. And hats off to the author of Blood Roses. I was genuinely worried how she would handle the last two entries with a much shorter word count than her competitors.


With just days to go until NaNo begins, I have been busy doing research and polishing my outline. I have been tempted to pick up the outline of another half-finished book, but I have resisted. I really want to win; it's my first time and I've never written so many words in such a short time. I'm not sure if I'll really be able to finish in time. It's a bit like the contest: exciting and a little bit scary.


In preparation, I've downloaded the Beta for Scrivener. I adore it. Yes, it has crashed a couple of times and not all of the features are working. But, oh my goodness, it's shiny! I can forgive a fair number of tech issues for something that instantly made visible to me where the weak points in my plot were going to be. It has this little corkboard thingy. And there for me to see, are scene after scene of my characters talking and thinking right around the middle. *headdesk* Why I couldn't see it before, I have no idea. But now, I can; so they're going to have to do something; maybe I'll blow something up.


Kidding.


 Maybe.