In the interest of explaining just what the hell I was doing for the entire month of November (because it obviously wasn't updating my blog), I was doing NaNoWriMo.
It's a challenge to everyone who claims to be a writer, thinks they ARE a writer, and wants to be one, too.
Me? I wrote more words than a sane person ever should. That's not important now, though. That comes later.
The point of NaNoWriMo is to challenge yourself to finally write that novel. Yeah, it may not be good, but it's written. You can fix it later. I've never gone into NaNo expecting to write something so fantastic that I don't need to edit it. I've been known to send characters off on rants about Finland, or have them all start singing a song they hear on the radio because I have NO IDEA what to do next. It doesn't need to be GOOD writing, you just need to shut up and WRITE it. If you worry about it being the best novel ever written on your first draft, it'll never get it written.
This year, I wrote several different plots. I'm betting when I get around to editing, I'll probably scrap most of them. The ones I don't shove in the vault, never to see the light of day again, will be rewritten. You see, my challenge to myself this year, instead of sticking to the way I'm used to writing, was to write across as many genres as I could. It just happened to tie in beautifully with the idea of writing a million words in November, something I had always wanted to try. I know my own limits better than anyone else. I had to see if it was possible.
For me, it is. I have a fast enough typing speed that I can get away with things like writing 80k in a day (which I really don't recommend, by the way). I had the free time, stamina, tendency toward insomnia, and sheer force of will to sit at my computer for eight to ten hours a day doing nothing but writing. I polished off the month with 1,061,892 words, which left me 4,108 words short of five million for the year.
I don't know if I'll do this again. The million was a blast, I must admit. I guess I'll wait and see how next year unfolds.
To December, and beyond!
I'm working on editing 2008's NaNo, which I utterly failed at completing in November. I did finish it by the time February '09 rolled around, though. When that gets too frustrating, I switch to re-writing the first half of Caillien's story, which took me ten years to get on paper. The problem with taking ten years? I started when I was twelve. It is very, very obvious in the way I used to write. I'm editing with the intent of losing the "one day, I might be satisfied with this, and maybe one day, I'll be published and everyone will love me" attitude. I'm editing for my own good, and yes, I would love to be a published author one day, but that will never happen if I'm not willing to buckle down and do this properly. I can write as much as I want in a month. There hasn't been a day this year that I haven't sat down at my computer and worked on one of my stories. I have to stop thinking in the "one day" mindset. No more "maybe". If this is worth doing at all, it's worth doing right. Now that I've thoroughly contradicted myself and confused everyone, I'll move on.
As of right now, writing is my hobby. It's a hobby I put significant amounts of time in, and I get very little out of it beyond the satisfaction of finishing whatever was in my head. It's time to take this to the next level, and it's time to get things ready for readers.
Somewhere along the path to utter insanity, I remembered a few things I apparently forgot.
To my cheerleaders, thank you. Your support means a lot to me. This includes the overachievers who kept me going, even when all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep.
To my very serious brethren, especially those of you who tried NaNo this year (but mostly Allo, Athy, and Ocie, who are all fantastic ladies), thanks for always being around when I needed a character named, a dare thrown in, and a random Scottish accent no one could understand.
Many thanks to Ho, who was always there when I needed a laugh.
Thanks to Lys, who helped me find Nessie.
To my rival and fellow ridiculous overachiever, it was a BLAST writing with you! Rock on with your bad self.
To the handful of new readers who wandered over here from the NaNo pages, hai! Glad you enjoy my blog.
To my haters, thanks! You gave me the motivation to rub it in your faces. I don't need you and I don't need your pity, so kindly go fuck yourselves.
