December is officially upon us, which means that November is now just a distant memory. By now you are probably wondering how the whole novel thing turned out.
The official word count put me at 11,332 words. A bit short of my 50,000 word goal.
To be completely honest, I am super sad about not "winning" NaNoWriMo. I wish with all of my heart that I could fly around the world backwards, Superman style, and give November another shot. But sadly I can't, so I guess I will just have to try again next year. (If only I hadn't played so much Tetris in November!)
After expressing my sadness to a few friends they tried to get me to see what an accomplishment 11,332 word is. And after a few days of thinking about it, I have realized that NaWriMo did teach me a few things.
1. A little is better than nothing.
I am now 40 pages of single spaced narration closer to a novel than I was 30 days ago.
2. I can EASILY write 1,500 words in an hour.
I wish I had developed this skill when I was in university and college. All of those hours I spent trying to knock out a 4 page essay. (Write or Die helped immensely!)
3. There is a whole online world of resources for writers.
I was by no means alone in my goal. When I was feeling unmotivated, stumped as to where my characters should go, or need a little extra push, there was a whole throng of writers to help me. My inbox was flooded everyday with pep talks, inspiring me to keep going.
4. There is a story out there just waiting to be told.
Listen, I know that sounds cheesy, but I really do believe that now. When I first heard about NaNoWriMo, I had no idea what to write about, but my story somehow found me. I just had to get it put on paper. (Or on my computer, I guess.)
5. An experience of a lifetime.
On top of everything else crazy I am doing with my life: documenting my life on not one, but two blogs, trying to find a husband using old tyme methods, keeping my fingernails vibrant colours, and still enlisted in a full time job search, the one thing that people could not get over was the fact that I was trying to write a book in a month. Every time I went out, I had to update people on my word count. And the fact that I am not sharing a synopsis with everyone made them even more intrigued.
But it was only after talking to a few people, shortly after reaching the 9,500 word mark, that I realized that, like it or not, I was attempting one of the craziest things a person could do. But that was also the night I started to feel like an author.
So I didn't "win" but that doesn't mean that I going to give up all of my hard work. Besides, I don't think I can leave my characters hanging like that. So please forgive me, but you might be receiving your copy of 'All You Dream Of Will Come True' a little later in 2010 than I expected.
Starting thinking about your own 2010 NaNoWriMo novel now! We can be writing buddies next year!
As Always,
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