November was a long month! I hit a snag last week with the migraine and didn't write for three days, so I didn't reach my goal of 60k words. I did write yesterday and my final total is 54,613. I really wanted to make it to 55k, but my brain stopped last night and there was nothing I could do to get more out of it. So there we go. I finished NaNo!
Right now I don't think I'll do it again. My main purpose was to figure out more about myself as a writer: how I work under pressure, how many words I can comfortably write in a day, and if a detailed outline helps me. I've discovered I do well under pressure (although I knew that), 2000 words a day is pretty easy for me if I know what I'm writing, which leads me to the outline. I know people are split on who uses them and who doesn't, and I think I'm an outliner. It doesn't need to be overly specific, but the guidance served indispensable.
I still have a lot more story to write. I'm on chapter 22 and my outline has 29 total. My chapters have been getting longer as I go - right now they're averaging 15-20 pages each, so that's potentially another 160 pages. I'm at 180 now, so that should be a good length book. I've discovered a lot of holes where I forgot to include things, and I think the whole thing will wrap up quicker than I intended. (In book time, not writing time.) I've been pretty detailed so far without many time jumps, so a final jump at the end might be jarring.
Anyway, this is probably boring since you don't know my specific story. Sorry. :)
Did everyone have a nice holiday weekend? Are you ready to dive back into things?
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31 comments:
Congrats Mel!!
*affixed nose plug, assumes the position* Diving now!
Congrats! Great job NaNo-ing - but more importantly, learning about yourself.
Congrats! You really should be proud of yourself.
I'm off to dive into my WIP right now, actually. No more pining for love from my inbox. At least for the next hour or so.
It's a little anti-climactic, since I need to write another 20K by Thursday, LOL. So it's still on the grind. I will feel so good in a couple weeks. I just need to keep this pace up continually.
congrats!
I need to dive back in, but it's more of a stick your toes slowly into the pool day for me!
That's wondeful, Mel.
Congrats!
Hi Melanie,
Mucho congrats on finishing NaNo. And good luck with completing the draft. :)
I am so impressed with your NaNo numbers! I barely wrote this month :(
What a wonderful accomplishment! Congrats!
Thanks Jenna. :)
Janna, that's more how I'm looking at it.
Wendy, good luck with your wip. I'm sure the pull of the in box is strong...
Spy, ANOTHER 20K? Good god woman! If anyone can do it, it's you, so good luck!
Colby, that's how my day is turning out as well.
Thanks AC!
Thanks Gypsy! (and welcome!) I'm trying not to let the things I know need fixing me bother me. I work better with a completed draft and I know I'll do it, but it's tempting to start fixing things now.
Thanks Nadine. :)
Sorry you've been battling those headaches, but 54,600 is still awesome! And I'm an outliner too; I've got to have a rough idea of where I'm going or I get paralyzed.
hehe, I wish I had done Nano this year. Congrats!
I just didn't have time. Next year though. I'm going to try to work my writing so I can write my next rough draft on Nano next year (I've got a backlog of drafts of work already to polish and release, so more rough drafts right now don't make sense.)
Awesome, Melanie! That's a real accomplishment. Even knowing what the most efficient way you write is really helpful.
How weird! I thought I'd posted a comment earlier, but uh, apparently not!
Anyway, my congrats on the huge progress you've made this month! NaNo is definitely a learning experience, isn't it? :)
Rachel, I feel better just knowing this about myself.
Zoe, talk about planning ahead! But does that mean you won't be writing anything new until next November, or am I misunderstanding you?
Thanks Robin! I agree. :)
Jen, that it is...
Nice work! I am actually going over to the dark side with outlining. I've decided to wing it for a while. But first, I need time to sit and write! BIC!
Me too, turkey. Me too. (about BIC.)
Hey Melanie, well I do still have to write the rough draft to the third novella in the Kept-verse, but I've already got the rough draft of the second one done, and I've got two full novels that are completed, one is through several drafts of revisions already. So I have a backlog of work to release before I can start really writing new stuff. But I'm probably writing the third novella this month.
But after I get that done, no new rough drafts until November.
Zoe that makes sense. I didn't think you were not writing at all, it just seemed like a long time for no new projects. But a novella is still something new. Good luck!
Congrats on finishing NaNo! Do you have any plans for the book or was it just a story to write for the contest? I wouldn't beat yourself up about missing your personal goal. The fact that you got so many words down in one month is quite the achievement in of itself.
Thanks Aaron. Yeah, I plan to finish it, edit it, and see where it ends up. It'll need more work in the subsequent stages than my other novel, but I'm ok with that.
Thanks! The rough draft is always the easiest for me. It's the "making it not completely suck" part, that's hard later, haha! So my list of work that was done in at least rough draft, but not ready for the world, got too big.
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