I hereby report that I did not make 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. I wasn't sure I would, or that I could, but damn I wanted to. I am a little disappointed in myself, but even as I write that I realize that I DID finish 22,000 words of a new project in one month. 22,000.
That's a damn lotta words.
In fact, 22,000 is probably the greatest number of words I've managed on a spec fiction project in a single month since...well, since I can remember. And it is no small accomplishment.
So, my excitement at seeing this project grow through November, and my now conditioned need to continue seeing the word count grow has led me to declare December DebNoWriMo...which basically means the rest of y'all can slack off, but I plan to grind out another 20,000+ words in December. And another 20,000 in January, which will be DebNoWriMo 2. At which point I will have achieved the ~60,000 words I estimated will comprise my first draft of Mantourage.
Then I will of course descend into editing Hell, which is where all the truly hard work will get done. But I am looking forward to that, my writerly friends. Boy am I.
To steal a motif from my pal Margaret: You know what's great? Learning the lesson NaNoWriMo has to teach us. That's what's great.
What lesson is that? That writers write, every day, every spare second, without apology, without battling their inner critic over every little word. That writers don't just talk about writing, they pass up lunch dates to get another 800 words in. That writers spend Friday night after work at their computer cranking out a pivotal scene instead of at happy hour with their degenerate colleagues.
This is a thing I once knew innately but which I had lost sight of. Thanks, NaNoWriMo for giving it back to me.
And now, back to it.
The Final Snippet: Why is it that our purchasing of lottery tickets must always be hindered by discussions of the supernatural? (I'd try to explain this, but it barely makes sense even to me)
22k your first time out is fabulous. I think I made about 2500 my first Nano, 25k the second and then made the full 50k the third.
ReplyDeleteMargaret is right, though. The real lesson is that we don't need to be "inspired" to write. Have fun with DebNoWriMo. Thinking of doing something similar myself.
Ah, thanks, Deb. It was both more difficult and far less difficult than I thought it would be. But I am happy I did it and I will probably work on drafting a whole new project next November, assuming I am done with the substantial edits this effort will take. That you did better each time comforts me :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that--DebNoWriMo! And way to go on your efforts! Yes, we write all the time and everywhere! I even write on toilet paper. Most of the time I use a pen....
ReplyDeleteFrank -- I guess it should be DebNoWriMo pretty much for the rest of the year, huh? For me, anyway. The rest of y'all will need to name your own months....
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