Dear Friends in NaNo,
As NaNo draws to a close, I’d like to simply say this. I will not be a NaNo winner. How does it feel to say those words out loud? It feels okay, actually.
My first novel writing experience went this way.
- I mapped out my novel, outlined the plot, described my characters, et cetera, et cetera. An iPad app called ‘A Novel Idea’ came in really handy. It’s the best tool I saw out there that could help a newbie like myself.
- I did my research. I loved this part. I was just short of taking a trip to where my novel is set. I get a rush just thinking about it.
- I even narrated the novel to a very willing and seemingly entertained listener, from start to close to end. I was that psyched about it all.
- Then I wrote. Ideas, scenes, more ideas more scenes. Fed them all into my A Novel Idea app, while updating my word count in another app called typepad. I was writing, finally. Yay!
A Novel Idea – great app.
But then I seemed to have a bit of an issue.
Maybe I raised the bar too high for the level of writing I’m at right now, but I just wanted my work to be as good as any, and I was acutely aware of what I felt was missing. Yes, yes, I know Nano is about simply writing and writing but hey, couldn’t help myself. I gathered writing resources. These often seemed more appealing than my own writing, some were just too enjoyable so I read on. Yes, I did procrastinate a bit, reading about writing better. I also did a lot of reading. Novels. Thrillers. I get lost in those. Life did get in the way too. Let’s just say I won’t have 50,000 words by end of Nov, and I won’t be spending the next few days trying to get them.
What did I learn?
That I’ve got a good imagination. That I can write. Just not that fast, yet. And I still need to work at it, practice, get better.
Would I call NaNo a good experience? Yes. Would I try it again? Yes.
For those of you that participated, how was your NaNo experience? How’s the race to the finishing line going? If you didn’t participate, are you happy to see NaNo go? Do you care at all?
I only know you, and one other blogger, who participated. So, you didn’t hit 50K. You learned a lot and I certainly hope you finish!
Thank you, H. I hope I can make some great headway with my draft, too. There’s an organisation here called Femrite that encourages and promotes female authors in Uganda and I’m hoping to work with them some time.
I didn’t participate, and you get my congrats just for trying it. And you can’t really fail at it, in my opinion. Even if you didn’t reach the word-count goal, you’ve still accomplished a lot.
Thank you, Carrie. Somewhere during the race I went to the NaNo website to check out those best sellers and o other published novels that started out as NaNo drafts just to get a bit of inspiration. I’d say I got the message, lol, to ‘keep keeping on’.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over! Still a few days of November left! Kudos to you for trying! I throw my hat in the ring every year, too, and have yet to reach the 50k, but I will tell you one thing – did you write a heck of a lot more than you normally would have had you not tried??? Then, my dear, you did succeed. Congrats!
Thank you, Betsy. And congrats t you too for giving it a shot. Yes, I wrote a lot more than I’d have. I learn a whole lot too, and that’s the most important part for me.
Some novelists take years to write their works. It took me ten years to write mine. I guess if you dedicate a certain amount of time during the week to the process you’ll pick up a rhythm. I made sure to sit in front of the computer at least five days out of the week. Sometimes I’d write one sentence, sometimes a chapter, sometimes I’d just read over what I had written and tweak those sentences. The effort would snow-ball. I say it took ten years but really it took a couple. It started as a short story in a workshop I had. Several years later I began expanding it. I hope to see your finished process.
I hope to see it soon too, Sandee. Really, part of the challenging is making sure to put aside that writing time, no matter what. When I get that down, I’m sure I’ll be happier with my progress.
Winner or not, you’ve been into it, you’ve got the experience and you’ve developed your imagination, your writing skills. Congrats!
Thank you, Daph. Please pardon the late reply!