NaNoWriMo: Final update

Whew! November was certainly an interesting month. I think I can honestly say that I have never given myself a writing goal and then actually worked toward it before. In some ways I liked it and in some ways I didn't. I think I wrote some pretty awful stuff just so I could say I had written something. I did make significant progress in my novel, and had the joy of writing several scenes that had been stuck in my head for quite some time. Probably for years. I did not, however, "win" National Novel Writing Month by writing a novel of 50,000 words, and I didn't finish my book. I wrote 25,000 words and am now about 2/3 into my book. For me, that's pretty good progress in a month.

I learned a lot during this process. I learned that it really is a good idea to have writing goals and discipline. It's also a good idea, for me at least, to write first and edit later. NaNo forced me to just keep going, even if I'd just written something that I thought was really awful. Maybe when I go back later, it won't seem so bad. And even if it does, I can always fix it.

I am planning to try again and actually win next year. Next time, I'll plan to start a new novel instead of beginning the month 30,000 words into one, and see how that goes. Even though I didn't win this year, I am glad I decided to give it a try. I now have 55,000 words written, and am hoping to have a complete rough draft in another month or two.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!