November and NaNoWriMo are over.

I accomplished my short term goals, which were to write at least 50,000 words in Nov. (I ended up at 88,127 yesterday) and to get a good start on a novel that will eventually be published. My long term goal of finishing the novel will be chipped away at over the next six months of so. (I think I am about halfway in the draft and then, of course, there is editing.)

This was the first time I’ve done this project, and the process was very interesting. Going into it, I had no idea how difficult it would be to get to 50,000 words. It turned out that it wasn’t as hard as it sounded. In fact, I would say that anyone who can commit a couple hours or so a day on average could do this.  It doesn’t require that you abandon your life.

The preparation I did in advance (outlining, character development, etc.) helped a lot, as did the commitment to write every single day in November. Some days I wrote a little (I tried to write at least 1000 words even on disaster days) and sometimes a lot, but I wrote every day. (Another key to NaNo success is realizing that first drafts are always crap and that you just have to get words on paper. The biggest surprise to me in the whole thing was that I actually like my novel so far.)

The “pressure” of being a part of a group doing this was more motivating than I expected. Being a part of something bigger is reinforcing. For me, posting my word count online every day was a big thing too.

I also really appreciated the support and camaraderie I  got from the communities of writers at the NaNo site itself, on Writing.com (I participated in a structured prep program with them in Oct. that was extremely helpful), and on Twitter.

Other thanks go to the yWriter software (which I loved and would highly recommend) and of course, Brad, who did a lot of extra chores during this month in addition to be fabulously supportive.

Below is a very brief day-by-day journal of the experience. If you’re interested in what the novel is about (or someday reading it when the edited draft is done), drop me an email.

And stay tuned for more ranch-related posts now that this project is going to be a little less all-consuming.

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NaNo Journal

Day 1 – 5665 words; feeling great! fearing week 2
Day 2 – pipe broke this morning flooding half the house; still made it to 10,374 words; missing Twitter more than FB (and cheating a little on the former)
Day 3 – unplanned meeting for work meant less writing today; hit 13,790
Day 4 – 18,043
Day 5 – Friday farm day ended up being all day; forced myself to 19,823 but it wasn’t pretty
Day 6 – So why did I agree to do farm stand today? writing lacked enthusiasm…21,759
Day 7 – lots of ideas laying in bed this morning; wanted to get writing right way, but B convinced me to run; powered through the 25k goal with 25,532 and actually really liked what I wrote
Day 8 – start of week 2 and the second time I’ve totally missed my morning writing session because of work; good evening session got me up to 28,544…and good ideas for tomorrow
Day 9 – ok, this is too much fun. I thought week 2 was supposed to be awful. 30,504
Day 10 + 11 – lots of good writing; 36,315
Day 12 – ridulous day, Farm Friday with plenty of extra drama…38,231 (and only because I decided anything was better than nothing). Tomorrow will be better.
Day 13 – 42,025
Day 14 – babysitting is not conducive to writing
Day 15 – Half-way monthwise and the words flew out today. Hard to stop at 48,700. Tomorrow’s the day!
Day 16 – I did it – 50,600! Now just another 75k or so to finish the story! I’m on a roll now.
Day 19 – been plowing ahead, writing something every day; at about 56k now; worried about how long this is going to end up.
Day 20 – one plot line took an unexpected twist today; 62,363
Day 21 – light day today…football…but got a thousand or so words in anyway
Day 22 – my own book made me sad today…still got to 68,229
Day 24 – had to stop short of a depressing death scene today, 75,089
Day 25 – Thanksgiving and I officially verified my word count on the Nano site. It was surprisingly emotional.
Day 26 – writing about severe psychological trauma…ugh
Day 29 – over 85,000 now and thinking about post-Nano life. Also thinking about axing one of my characters…not sure.
Day 30 – 88, 127…that’s about 130 single-spaced types pages