Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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 ignored the dirty laundry, neglected the housework and left my kids to watch a lot of TV. I didn't read. I didn't blog. I didn't watch any TV or movies. My husband was busy enough at work that he's still talking to me despite my inattention. But I don't want to live my whole life like that.

So  before I get to wrapped up in catching up with the rest of my life (I have friends' writings I get to read and a book by the lovely Donna Alward on my night table), I want to write down the things I have figured out in the last few weeks.

Most important? I like my outlines. the first 15K were so much easier than the last 5K because I had spent so much time planning  I knew what I wanted to say in the first half of the book by November 1st. I had an outline, character sketches and research notes. I really, really, really like structure to my writing.

New toys are always fun.

It's ok to write some crap, but, at least for me, 50,000 words of stuff I hate would be unsatisfying. I decided early on that I'd rather not finish than just write whatever came to mind.

I'm taking today off to celebrate!

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