I'm slowly emerging from my post-NaNoWriMo coma. What an intense thirty days!
I'm not gonna lie and say it was pretty -- it wasn't. In fact, for the majority of November, it was downright U-G-L-Y. I fell behind about a week in and stayed that way for the rest of the month. When November 29th rolled around, I was more than 10k behind.
So, how did I manage to finish at all?
I'm one stubborn chick. I refused to watch that clock roll over to 12am on the 30th with my word count less than 50k. In fact, at one point I'd been trying to write in bed but my eyes kept drifting closed. So I got up and took my laptop into the bathroom, where I sat on the cold linoleum floor for an hour. I wrote over a thousand words that way.
On the 30th, I spent three hours sitting in the lobby at work, typing furiously. I managed to get to 46k before starting work. I got out at 7 but didn't get home till well after 8. Then, I planted myself to the couch with my computer. I wrote for three and a half hours straight until I hit 50k. And then I wrote a little more before validating. I finished with half an hour to spare.
And ya know? I actually can't wait to get back to this book. I'd forgotten just how much I love these characters and this story is just a blast to write. I changed the POV from its original 3rd person to 1st person and the change completely refreshed my entire novel. Not to mention I'd started from scratch, with only barebones ideas of the scenes I needed to write. So many new things! I had a blast this November.
Here are a few things I learned:
*My MMC has VERY strong feelings about The Rolling Stones. Especially when Tierney throws insults at them.
*Tierney's "one who got away" can be kinda mean. I totally did NOT see that coming.
*When your characters are really and truly well-developed, they are completely out of your writerly control.
*Mt. Dew works wonders for those brain-dead moments when you'd much rather be sleeping.
*Things like spaghetti, chili and pizza are perfect November foods because the leftovers last for days.
*It IS entirely possible to get buried under laundry and dishes and all-around clutter if you don't clean on a regular basis. Poor Dana has had to put up with quite a mess!
How about you guys? Anyone else learn anything from their NaNoWriMo experiences?
I'm not gonna lie and say it was pretty -- it wasn't. In fact, for the majority of November, it was downright U-G-L-Y. I fell behind about a week in and stayed that way for the rest of the month. When November 29th rolled around, I was more than 10k behind.
So, how did I manage to finish at all?
I'm one stubborn chick. I refused to watch that clock roll over to 12am on the 30th with my word count less than 50k. In fact, at one point I'd been trying to write in bed but my eyes kept drifting closed. So I got up and took my laptop into the bathroom, where I sat on the cold linoleum floor for an hour. I wrote over a thousand words that way.
On the 30th, I spent three hours sitting in the lobby at work, typing furiously. I managed to get to 46k before starting work. I got out at 7 but didn't get home till well after 8. Then, I planted myself to the couch with my computer. I wrote for three and a half hours straight until I hit 50k. And then I wrote a little more before validating. I finished with half an hour to spare.
And ya know? I actually can't wait to get back to this book. I'd forgotten just how much I love these characters and this story is just a blast to write. I changed the POV from its original 3rd person to 1st person and the change completely refreshed my entire novel. Not to mention I'd started from scratch, with only barebones ideas of the scenes I needed to write. So many new things! I had a blast this November.
Here are a few things I learned:
*My MMC has VERY strong feelings about The Rolling Stones. Especially when Tierney throws insults at them.
*Tierney's "one who got away" can be kinda mean. I totally did NOT see that coming.
*When your characters are really and truly well-developed, they are completely out of your writerly control.
*Mt. Dew works wonders for those brain-dead moments when you'd much rather be sleeping.
*Things like spaghetti, chili and pizza are perfect November foods because the leftovers last for days.
*It IS entirely possible to get buried under laundry and dishes and all-around clutter if you don't clean on a regular basis. Poor Dana has had to put up with quite a mess!
How about you guys? Anyone else learn anything from their NaNoWriMo experiences?