NaNoWriMo 2012

It's been over a month since I last posted on here.  I decided to take myself off the radar a little bit so I could devote my writing time to the great challenge of participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2012.  

NaNoWriMo is a challenge, in which people undertake the commitment to write 50,000 words towards the first draft of a novel, during the thirty days of November.  

For my own NaNo project, I decided to add 50,000 words to my existing novel - an historical epic about my family during World War II.  Prior to NaNo starting, I had produced 33,000 words but most of these consisted of rather random odd sections.  My big challenge for November was to work on producing the central narrative. 

I am pleased to say that I found NaNoWriMo to be a thoroughly rewarding experience.  I was successful in 'winning', completing my 50,000 words a full week before the end of the month.  Even better than that, I carried on to the end of the month, producing 67,000 words altogether, which brings my overall word count to 100,000!  I have a long, long way to go still but I am happy with what I have achieved.  

There was a feed on the NaNoWriMo website, in which members were discussing what they had learned from the experience.  Many of them had similar experiences to me.  If I had to pick three things out, they would be as follows.

1.  I definitely have the self discipline to write every day.  More than that, I absolutely loved that I had to write every day.  It was wonderful to give myself permission to make my writing a priority like that.

2.  I can definitely finish this novel.  It has been puzzling me for years now and I have finally reached a point where I know exactly what I am doing with it.

3.  It helps to have company.  The entire process of writing is massively enhanced by the company of like minded people.  This was where WriteNight came in.  As regular readers will know from previous entries, I am a member of WriteNight Colchester.  Throughout November, we met every Monday night and worked on our respective novels.  Not only that, we encouraged one another via Facebook so there was a good support network between meetings.

So, as you can see, the entire NaNoWriMo process has been fantastic for me. 

Should you wish to take part next year, the website is available here and is well worth a look.