Win!

I did it!  I have logged my 3rd Nano Win!

I don't have to tell you that I'm pretty excited, but I will.  I'm pretty excited about this!

This story budded in late October.  I was starting to panic because I didn't have a plot yet.  But then there it was.  It evolved over the course of the month.  There is a lot at the front that isn't going to stay because of the direction the story took, but every word written helped lead me there, so they are all important.

If anyone ever has a desire to participate in Nano in the future, I'll give you a tip here.  Go all in.  Sign up. Fill out the profile on the website. Make buddies on the site. Participate in the forums. Donate something, even if it's a dollar.  Go to the write in's.  Go all in and invest in the process.  Get to know your Municipal Liaisons, we are there to give you encouragement.

It really does help to be part of the community.  It helps to feel supported.  You will learn tricks and tidbits that help with your word count and creative process.

Not to mention it is FUN!

I cannot put this novel to the side and make a promise to edit later.  I know me. I won't get back to it.  I would probably have to start over.  I have to do at least some editing now.  Now, when I know what is missing at the beginning.  Now, when I still have the *feelings* that I tried to convey.  So, I will, make the promise to keep going.  This has now become Decembers Problem, and it is almost December.

I am looking forward to reading some books again though.  I haven't felt like I could pick up a book all month.  Not without guilt that I could be writing instead. There is a stack.  I didn't stop collecting them in November, I just paused on reading them.

Celebration and TGIO party is upcoming.  I'll put editing in my planner and see how that goes.  I've never edited a book before.  This is going to be a first.

Playing catch up

I started off the month behind.  I logged 300 words on the first day.  Those words were typed in notes on my phone during my lunch break.  I was working on a research paper at work during the day and really had no drive to sit down at my computer to type words for my novel when I got home.  I did the first 300 words on the first day, so that I could tell myself that I'd started.   I didn't make myself write another word until the weekend.

I went to my first Nano Write-in on Sunday.  It was amazing.  I was about an hour late to the write in. It was well attended.  All of the seats around the table were taken.  There were word wars and everyone was introduced to the "plot unstickers" that the more experienced Nano ML brings.  She has several bags of different unstickers that are really funny.  I didn't have to use those yet.  But was very much enjoying everyone else talking about them.  I got over 5,000 words written on that write-in.

Over the next few weeks I logged some words every day.  I rarely made the minimum word count during the week.  On Saturdays I had an appointment with my Aussie sister.  We do virtual write ins and word wars.  I have used those word wars to catch up on word count.

So most of my word count has come from the weekend write-ins and support from peers.  And I'm in heaven.  I love to hear about every ones progress at the Nano Write-in and the nuances of peoples stories.  I'm honestly excited about reading some of those stories eventually.  

Even with all the words I'm logging on the weekend, I'm consistently between 5,000 and 10,000 words behind schedule.

I had a four day weekend on Thanksgiving weekend.  I had a goal to write 5,000 words each day.  And I almost made it.  I logged a fair amount on the morning of Thanksgiving.  I planned to write some more in the evening.  I'd planned to not drink at Thanksgiving dinner, but who was I kidding?  I went to bed full and happy that night and slept in the next morning.  On Friday, I did log 5,000 words.  And on Saturday I had typed up over 1,000 words when my computer rebooted.  I lost that work and had to start over.  Imagine my frustration!  I was able to recreate the scene, and I hope I made it better.  I'm going to just consider that 1,000 words as practice. I logged 5,000 on Saturday.

There are are only a few days left of Nano 2016.  I still have 10,000 words to write.  I'm hoping that I can meet my 5,000 word Write-in average.  Then I just have to make a minimal amount each week day for the few remaining days of the month.

I don't think anyone really cares about my word count and the history of my November 2016.  But at least I'll be able to look back and remember the track I took to win this year.

To those of you who are still writing this November, KEEP IT UP!   IF you hit 50,000 or 5,000, you've started a journey.  You're going to go places.