NaNoWriMo 2015

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and this year I decided to try do exactly that. Just like many other writers, I stupidly took on the task of writing 50 000 words this month. I say stupidly because I run a dance and Pilates business (it’s our busiest time of year now), I have two kids (3 years and 9 months), a household to run, and an overall busy schedule. But, I thought I could do it and I still don’t think I was wrong.

So by now you’re wondering, did I finish the 50 000 words? No! No, I didn’t. And I’m okay with that. Let me tell you why. I discovered NaNoWriMo for the first time a day before it started so I signed up and that was that. I blindly went into writing my novel and I started off strong. I started with no plan and a very vague idea.

I didn’t know that you should plan your novel. I didn’t know about things like the snowflake method and outlining. I didn’t know how many words 50 000 really was. Gosh, I didn’t know how many words 2000 really was (this is how many I was planning to write every day).

Going into NaNoWriMo opened my eyes to so many things in the writing world that I had no idea about. I realized that if you’re writing full time then 2000 words is easily do-able but if you’re working from 8 to 8 and have two kids it’s not easily done. It’s not impossible, but also not easy.

Even though I didn’t reach the goal of 50 000 words I am still incredibly proud of myself because I wrote every day without fail and that’s more than most people can say. I was also above average as far as my word count goes. For a first try and without any planning, I feel I did well.

Another huge obstacle I faced was the fact that I completely went off my characters and my story line. I learnt why I went off them through this NaNoWriMo journey too. Planning. I didn’t plan.

NaNoWriMo left me feeling exhausted, proud, inspired, and happy. I will not leave my story where it is. I plan to work on it and still complete my first draft. At least then, that’s one step closer to a finished novel. But, now that it’s not all about word count I can sit down, like I should have done before November, and plan out my novel properly.

I can get to know my characters and outline my book step by step. Hopefully, this will help me find more inspiration in my story and hopefully this will help me tolerate it. Hating what I’m writing is not a good place to be and I need to get myself out of this rut.

So overall, how did I do?

Well; I spent about 30 minutes to an hour and a half every day writing and I wrote an average of 916 words per day. In total, I wrote 27481 words.

Here is a breakdown of my daily word count.

Not too bad for my first go. I learnt so much about writing and myself during this month. I also learn little things but important things like the fact that I have to have a drink or two by my side while I write, whether it’s water or wine, tea or coffee, I just need something. I also learnt that I can do this and that I like to do this. I like to write. To me, this lesson is a very important one. Lastly, I learnt that I can dedicate myself and that I am in fact a disciplined person.