I win!
Last night before bed, I uploaded my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. This makes me a four time participant and a four time winner. Unfortunately the best thing I can say about this years effort is that it's done now so I don't ever have to look at it again. I think I'm always tired and somewhat discouraged at the end of NaNo (well, the first year winning was a complete rush because I didn't know if I could do it) but this year was hard in a strange way. At about 35k I realized the story wasn't going anywhere. The characters weren't particularly engaging, the plot still hadn't really emerged, and the world was poorly conceived at best. This made writing the last 15k feel a bit like an exercise in futility. While there is a remote possibility that I will come back to at least the setting (with some modifications) at some point, the odds that I ever "use" any part of this years effort are extremely slim.
It was also funny, because I kept wanting to work on a different story, either my recently finished novel, or the NaNo from last year, or maybe even the story idea I'll probably use next year. I was distracted last year too, though. I think that's what comes of having more than one WIP.
Still, I'm glad I did it. It feels good to be producing text, even if result will largely sit in a proverbial drawer gathering dust. Writing in huge quantities reminds me that I can, that I'm good at this. A lot of people would have a hard time writing that much, and while most of it isn't good, most of it isn't terrible either, there just isn't quite enough there to justify the length. I'm also very glad to have been able to do this AK (After Kids) because that was actually something I worried about. But balancing baby and writing seems more and more possible all the time.
Best of all I finished a couple days early, so now I can rest for a couple of days before diving into the next stage of revisions for the novel.
It was also funny, because I kept wanting to work on a different story, either my recently finished novel, or the NaNo from last year, or maybe even the story idea I'll probably use next year. I was distracted last year too, though. I think that's what comes of having more than one WIP.
Still, I'm glad I did it. It feels good to be producing text, even if result will largely sit in a proverbial drawer gathering dust. Writing in huge quantities reminds me that I can, that I'm good at this. A lot of people would have a hard time writing that much, and while most of it isn't good, most of it isn't terrible either, there just isn't quite enough there to justify the length. I'm also very glad to have been able to do this AK (After Kids) because that was actually something I worried about. But balancing baby and writing seems more and more possible all the time.
Best of all I finished a couple days early, so now I can rest for a couple of days before diving into the next stage of revisions for the novel.