It took some serious navigation of the NaNo site in order to find other overachievers like me that I could use to kick start that competitive edge that I seem to have.
Of course, once I had my motivation back, it was no small thing to get my word count back up to where I needed it to be. There were many days that I was writing 15k or up. One day, I even wrote 26k in 24 hours. Not something I ever planned on doing, but it definitely enlightened me on how much I can do when I really put my mind to it.
This month has been full of little challenges, and huge accomplishments. It's been a month of first, and a month of learning. And, just like always, a month that I wouldn't trade for the world.
My first nano was when I learned I was a writer. My second when I learned that I wanted to get published. This nano, I learned that if I really put my mind to it, I can accomplish anything I want.
It doesn't matter how many times I do nano, I never walk away from the month empty handed. And I'm not talking about the four manuscripts that I finished (as of last night) that I can edit, and hopefully get published.
While I didn't get to write the short stories that I kind of wanted to get done today, after four full novels, I'm not sure that's such a terrible thing. I can't wait to go back and read them over and see how it goes. (Two of them I think are actually pretty decent. They're the ones that took on lives of their own. Added characters, like a woman made of water, and a sword that attached itself to it's owner) The other two, I know, are going to need a lot of work, which is fine. I can deal with things needing work. Of course, I've put them at the back of the line so that I can work on the better ones first, but they're still novels that I've written, and I'm good enough now to think that I can fix them, and one day they will live up to my standards.
First I have to finish fixing up my Camp Nano novel 'Pandora' which is due to go out to beta readers by Christmas. I haven't told them that yet, but as I was actually unable to get the novel done before November started.
Then I've got some planning to do for the second book in the series. And, while all of that is going on, I still have my critique group submissions to get ready, and the critiques themselves to do.
So, while Nano is finishing for me, I still have so much to do. Still have to keep working so that one day I can get published and maybe even make enough money off of my writing so that I can quit my day job and work on the writing full time.
For now, though, I'm going to slack off for a day or so. Tomorrow there is a book to be read, and tv shows to be watched. It's going to be a day of laziness, and I quite honestly, can't wait. I'm going to take a real day off. I'm going to just sit back and enjoy it. Then, on Sunday, it's right back on the horse, after a brief stint at the TGIO party.
Happy Writing, everyone. Signing off for a day of leisure.
* * *
Daily Word Count: 6,352
Total Word Count: 286,752
No comments:
Post a Comment