Wednesday, November 30, 2011

NaNoWriMo





I wrote 50,303 words on my novel, Death Angel, in the month of November. The counter mangled a few and gave me credit for 50,280, but that's close enough! YAY!  I am tired now, but in the upcoming days, I'll tell you more about it!!  The last few days have been a real Marathon!!!  To win, one must write 50,000 words in one month!  That is, a 50,000 word novel,  It does not have to be finished.  And, it is not. I've posted parts of it (DRAFTY!!) here.


December 1, 2011 A Note after “Winning”

I am so happy. I cried when the NaNoWriMo teamed cheered for me at 11:30 last night.  I "won" last year, too, but this year was more of a struggle because I traveled and there were more conflicts.

I learned a LOT.  I learned about working efficiently, about structuring a novel, something you have to do in order to write efficiently.  And a lot more I may write about in the coming months.

Of course, I haven't finished the novel!!! I've only written the first 50,00 words. And it's very rough and drafty. But it has shape, plot, maybe a theme. It has characters, action and little suspense.

I'm not sure if trying to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month is the best way to do it. I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year or not. There are advantages and disadvantages to the big push. For example, I gave up even spellchecking in the latter third of the month, and there was no revising going on as I worked.

Yesterday, I wrote only scenes, not chapters. I worked from 5 AM until after 11 PM. So I have a lot of scenes to integrate into chapters!

However, I think I may proceed as if I were going to do one next year, because even if I decide not to do it, the planning will be useful for my NEXT NOVEL when I finish this one, whether or not I try to write most of the first draft in the month of November 2012.


6 comments:

Lowell said...

Well, congratulations. You took on a big challenge and came through in spite of some adversity! This is so wonderful! Can't imagine writing that many words in one month (or one year!)...good luck as you continue to polish and bring your novel to fruition!

Lowell said...

Happy New Year to you and yours, Mary! May you win many more awards in 2012!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Thanks, Lowell! HAPPY NEW Year to you. Sorry I missed your earlier message! I am ON THE ROAD.

Naturegirl said...

WOW! Merrytait, that's a heck of a lot of writing over 50000 words in a month!!!Congrats on your accomplishment!
So pleased to meet you!Thank you for stopping by my Nature Trail!
I'll keep in touch! Anna

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Thanks so much Nature Girl. Dunno if y'll see this, but my novels are all about nature--did I mention that?

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

I entered it in the Debut Dagger Competition.