NaNoWriMo has come to an end and sadly I have only written 29,386 words. However that's 12,034 more words than my longest finished novel and this impresses me on a level I never thought possible especially given the fact I attempted the "just go for it" method. I think having zero expectations for this soon to be novel had a huge impact on the overall result and I mean that in a positive way. It was a free flowing process gliding along an open ended path. The pages began to pile up and along with it my excitement and self confidence as a novelist.
The other day I sat in class and wrote like a madman. The lovely woman beside me verbalized that she admired my consistent writing throughout this month. She's working on a novel herself.
There were many thrilling challenges that came with this project. Setting a daily quota of at least 1,000 words (Which has now been increased to 2,000) was a first for me. Usually my method was "Try to write this chapter if you can't but if not that's fine just write all the things on to the page and make it awesome" not the most full proof when you have ADHD.
Deadlines are generally stressful and encourage giving up, for me at least, but because of the existencce of a deadline I managed to actually get chapters done. Usually my method was "As soon as possible but then put it to rest for a year so I can edit it later" also not full proof when you have ADHD. Realistically I don't think I can make the December 13th deadline for this upcoming contest because I want to write a part 2 and part 3 for this particular novel. My ultimate goal is and has always been to write a novel as thick as Lolita (112,473 words) To be able to hold in my bony hands a self-published book of that thickness is to succeed, in my opinion. The story itself I feel is inconsistent with quality. Another challenge was the ever so famous writer's block. For the first week I had no problem at all. The material that came to mine was borderline gold but the first writer's block hit me I thought I was in for it. I thought the hands of doom had grabbed a hold of me. Then my sweetheart said
"You're doing great I reall want to read the whole story and be able to read it over and over so I'm going to do my best to help make sure you finish it, I Love you too much to see you work so hard on something just for you to give it up."
And because of that I was able to up my quota goal and strive for 100,000+ words. The support from my sweetheart, best friends, and family have made a huge impact on both my work and self-esteem as a writer. My currently eight year old niece said
"You write the best books in the world."
For the first time in my life I read my to-be-novel out loud to my siblings. My eight year old niece didn't feel as strong as a connection with the main character as my thirteen year old nephew. This was expected given the target audience is young adults. But overall it was a fun time.
All in all NaNoWriMo was the most fun I've ever had in a while, in terms of writing and I have developed new methods for writing and produced the highest quality to-be-novel thus far. I encourage all writers to participate in the challenge starting in 2017.
-Just Jane
"Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use."
-Mark Twain
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