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Sunday, December 01, 2013

NaNoWriMo ended - I didn't

November came and went, as Novembers are wont to do.

Five times I've "done" National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The first three times I "won"—in that I crossed the finish line represented by November 30th with more than fifty thousand words under my pen. The fourth time I came close, a sprint at the end pushing me to over forty-nine thousand words.

This time I'm almost fourteen thousand words short of the goal. I wrote for twenty-nine of the thirty days. A good run, spoiled only by the day after Thanksgiving when I went to the well, and it was dry.

Part of my reason for doing NaNoWriMo was to remember to write (almost) every day. And I hit that mark. Another part was to get the follow-on from my flash story, Timeshare, out of the back of my head and into the world. I hit that mark also—though there is more to do there.

Still, it would have been nice to get the fifty thousand words out. Didn't happen. I'm not going to weep into my single malt scotch over it. Rather I'll continue writing in December.

There are the remaining Goldberg Variations to get down on 'paper'. There are thirty thousand words of a story I've been writing for years now to get off actual paper and into electrons. I like the story, and the heroine, too much to leave them languish unread. Plus I found the story when I unpacked a box last week!

To all who essayed NaNoWriMo this year—Huzzah!

On to December.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Kevin you said "Part of my reason for doing NaNoWriMo was to remember to write (almost) every day. And I hit that mark." In my books you won!

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    1. Thanks, Helen. I agree with you.

      Now, on to December.

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  2. I didn't "win" either but it helped me get back to writing anything at all, so it was a success. Yay for finding your story while unpacking! By the time you get it into digital you should be immersed in it again.

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    1. "…it helped get me back to writing…"

      That's, on some levels, what NaNoWriMo is all about. Because, in essence, December is no less a month than November, and the habit of writing is what matters. With writing come words, and with words comes story. And that's all we're trying to do. Tell stories.

      I'm looking forward to getting immersed in Karina's world again. She's something to behold! I suspect you'd enjoy her.

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  3. That's still many thousands of words poured into a hot project. A good haul, Kevin. Congratulations.

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    1. Many thanks, John. Yes, it's thirty-six thousand words of raw material that I didn't have some thirty-odd days ago. A good thing in itself.

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