Now that the crazy month of writing is over, I just thought I would take a moment to reflect on my Camp NaNoWriMo victory, and discuss what worked and what I will do differently next time.
One important thing that worked was that I sat down and wrote every single day. I plan to do that again. I learned, however, that Fridays were really difficult for me to write. When I get to the end of the work week, I am kind of drained and I just do not have as much concentration to put into writing. So I think that I will plan to have Fridays be light days next time. I will also require a little more writing during the week and a little less on weekends. I’ve already charted out that 1500 words on weekdays and 2500 words on weekends and holidays and 500 words on Fridays in November would put me at 52000 words, giving me a little leeway when I have “one of those days”.
I am not sure if I will plan more or just write by the seat of my pants again. It seemed to work well for me to have a rough outline, a clear direction for the ending, and to just sit down and start writing from beginning to end. But with more planning, I could skip around and only write interesting scenes on those days when I’m having a hard time. Without a clear ending in mind, though, I think it would be extremely easy to get “stuck” mid-way and give up.
I do not feel that my lack of research was too bad. I still have some research to do (I kept notes on questions that arose when I was writing), but most of the things are specifics about the time period and what makes sense within the world. Nothing is too terribly critical to the plot. The few things that were critical, I did research for during July as I needed to know.
My Dear Husband was really helpful this month. Without his support, I would have given up that first day, and every day thereafter! He made it possible for me to spend hours in front of this darn laptop, which is ultimately what it took to get out all those words.
When I started out, I thought I would need a hefty rewards system. I bought the patches from the Camp NaNoWriMo website and worked on earning them (all but three earned this time). I also rewarded myself with a S’more every 2,000 words. By the end, though, I did not keep track of patches or S’mores. I was writing because I wanted to write and the story needed to be told. Anyway, here is a picture of my bag with the patches sewn on:
I’m not sure whether socializing with others during “write-ins” would be a good thing or not for me. I get easily distracted, but on the other hand, sitting in this same room in front of this darn laptop was starting to get to me. So maybe I will try a social event or two in November, and if it doesn’t work for me, then I won’t go to any more. I do miss all the getting out and about that I was doing before this month started, and I look forward to getting back to it now that it is over.
I do think that unplugging my internet at the beginning of each writing session would be extremely prudent. I wish I had the willpower to do that each time. But if I did, I could not update my word count on the website. That was very motivational, to see the stats change and the remaining word count inch down.
Most importantly, I learned that writing is something I really enjoy. I have stories inside me that I did not even realize were waiting to come out. This is something I need to do more, and I will do NaNoWriMo this November!
My Excellence Project 