Hey, NaNoWriMo 2011 – Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?
Buh-bye NaNo 2011!
Wow, it was a crazy month. Witness the comments on Twitter the last month and you’ll see people trudging through, including people who normally don’t have to trudge. Our heroine would be one of those people, dear Reader. Up until the last day or so, I was sure I wouldn’t make it.
Then I found the Holy Grail of this novel: an outline so beautifully detailed which I thought long lost. Using it and pounding out an absurd number of words overnight, I managed to get over the 50k. Hallahoolah!
I don’t think I’d have been able to do it without having accepted my own advice and recognized that 50k or no, I was a winner. Yes, I really believe it. If a participant tries to write whenever writing is possible, whether they’re in the mood or not, even if he or she just gets a handful of thousand words… or fewer! …there’s a winner. That’s the true spirit of NaNo: just writing! Turn off that inner editor and find out what you really can do if you try. (Mind you, you have to let that editor out at some point. Do NOT submit your novel until it is no longer a NaNo, but rather a polished novel.)
I could write about the lessons I learned along the way. Eric Zawadzki of @FourMoonsPress wrote a super article titled “Lessons Learned, Lessons Reinforced.” I highly recommend giving that article a good look if you participated in NaNo, no matter how well you did. Eric also hit some mighty big obstacles along the way. His gung-ho spirit in his Twitter posts near the end inspired me so much! I actually began to think I could do it. And with the luck of finding that long-lost outline, I did. I don’t think I’d have even gone looking (again) for that outline had he not spurred me on with his own strength. He wasn’t looking to be an inspiration. He got stuck with it.
Maybe that’s the best sort of inspiration.
It is without sorrow I see NaNoWriMo 2011 finish. Yes, I made it and for that I am only grateful, not particularly triumphant. I am grateful to all my friends, word buddies and those commenting on my posts. You helped me accept the likelihood of not making the 50k. You also cheered when I did. Thank you all.
Photo by jinterwas on flicker.com; Hat by Pierre Balmain (1958).
Tagged: author, challenges, inner editor, NaNo, NaNoWriMo, writer, writing
Girl Meets Words 
Confession: After NaNo I didn’t write ANYTHING(ok tweets) for about 4 days. Perhaps I’ve mentioned this before, but had it not been for your fine post on #amwriting just before NaNo (Quit waffling & Do It) I would not have started NaNo, let alone finished it. It was(is) a great thing for me, providing a big confidence boost, and a lot good learning.
Congrats on your NaNo win! Thanks for this post.
john ross
LikeLike
Thank you and congratulations on your own NaNo win, John.
I dove into editing something other than my NaNo. It requires a daunting amount of revision and frankly, I needed to get my head out of that story. I understand entirely your respite from writing. It took some time before I wrote a flash. I’m delighted my article about NaNo on the #amwriting site (Quit Waffling) helped you decide to dive into the madness which is NaNoWriMo – and go on to win it! Thanks so much for letting me know. It’s a confidence boost here, too.
Take care,
JC
LikeLike
Hooray, Jess! I am so inspired by you always. You did great–all the way through.
LikeLike
Thanks so much, Johanna. It stuns me to think I could inspire you. You are a constant inspiration, regardless of whether I am writing or not. You always come up with the right words, whether motivating me or in your writing.
Take care,
JC
LikeLike