It’s NaNoWriMo confession time…. my word count total (drum roll please)…
12,000 words.
Shocking, I know.
My congratulations to all the writers who achieved their writing goals this month. I’m sorry I can not count myself among your ranks.
Here’s are a few of the reasons that NaNoWriMo didn’t work for me;
- In addition to being novel writing month, November is also the start of cold and flu season. And those pesky germs are hard to avoid when you have two 6-year-olds.
- I was invited to do two presentations this month – both very exciting opportunities for me! But they both required preparation (if I could add the words from my power point presentation to my total count I’d be up there… but still nowhere near 50,000.)
- I didn’t outline. And I’ve learned that I need to do an outline because I can’t keep writing if I know there are major plot points that need to be changed.
- I didn’t do enough research. This was my first attempt at writing historical fiction. As I started writing I realized I had to know more about the time period to get the voice right. And there is no point in getting the words down if the voice is all wrong – in my opinion.
- I am a bit of a control freak. I can’t stand piles of laundry, a dirty house, or store bought meals.
Not rocket science, I know, but that was my experience. This year. Maybe I’ll give it a try again next year – with a different outcome. But I’ll probably wait until those 6-year-olds are a little more capable of fending for themselves. In other words, give me a decade. Or two.
That’s not to say that I regret participating in NaNoWriMo 2012. I’ve learned that the writing process is different for every person and for every project. I know my writing self a little better now. Plus, I got a lot of work done. Even if it doesn’t show in the word count.