NaNoWriMo Aftermath!

National novel writing month is over, and yet I did not reach my words goal again.  For a reminder of what National Novel Writing Month is, or NaNoWriMo for short, then please go to National Writing Month Returns.

Not reaching my word goal does not mean that the entire experience is a waste, because I wrote the first draft of a children’s novel.  Even though my son, and I have to go back and add more depth, I never would have completed what I did in such a short period of time without some sort of accountability.  Having to log in every day and report the word count was extremely motivational to me. Too bad there isn’t a place to have to keep tally of word counts all year long. The negative side to that could be that word count would be everything, and content could suffer.  For example, I am at a part of writing right now where I want to focus on adding more descriptive words, and explaining better where it is that the characters are, and what they are doing.

When I think of my NaNoWriMo experience this year, I feel that it was a positive experience.  I do think that I could have written more if I hadn’t gotten sick, and had family visit for part of the time, however, it is an amazing start.  There were many moments of connectivity when my twelve year old son, and I would work together on the story. Then there were the times that my eighteen year old, and I sat side by side with laptops while he worked on his book, and I worked on mine.  I have already told my twelve year old that we are going to go on coffee shop “dates” in order to work on finishing the book together.

Overall, this is what I learned from this year’s NaNoWriMo experience:
1, Character development notes, and outlining before the month begins is extremely helpful.
2. Reading about good writing tips from other authors is also beneficial.
3. Choosing a regular writing time, and then filling in the gaps during other times of the day helps.
(for example, I would get up early before anyone else in the home to do yoga, and then write)
4. Finally, I used the daily goals as inspiration, and not as something set in stone.
I could have hit the word counts, but I chose to keep my life balanced.  I chose to continue to educate my children at home, and then try and work around that.
Next year it may be different. Maybe my children will one day be an age where I can give them a writing assignment while I work on mine.  Until that day, I will continue to wake up early, and do yoga, and work on my writing.