Well dear reader we’re back… And I have to say NANOWRIMO turned out pretty well. This year’s all out push to write a novel in a month resulted in a 75,000+ word manuscript and a clear direction for where to go next (both with new writing on what has confirmed itself to be a trilogy and in terms of what to do next for this specific story).

Naturally in addition to turning in 75,000 words (17000 more than my last NANOWRIMO high score…) I learned a few things on the way.

One: an all-out writing push can be hard…

Even if you’ve planned, exercised your mind and writing muscles and/or have the ‘mojo’ to do 50,000+ words in a month it can take time and effort. That means even if you can handle the writing part like a boss you still have to cope with the effects on other ‘jobs’, relationships, household chores, regular meals, and so on. And that can add up to a lot of stress.

Solution: be attentive to the needs of your family and make a plan. Even if you’re a ‘pantser’ and don’t plan your story, take a little time to plan out how to keep your spouse talking to you and the refrigerator stocked.

Two: no matter what you do there’s always ‘that guy’ who doesn’t get it.

I did the math…. 75,000 words over 295 pages is an entire school year’s worth of term papers or more in a single month, and I did it… But there will always be that one person who just doesn’t understand the achievement, or what went into doing it.

Solution: finish your book and publish it anyway! Some people will come around when they see the final product and some won’t. The won’ts often have their own issues that cloud their understanding and it may not be worth the battle to bring them around. You may not be able to bring them around at all, but if you push through and succeed there is a chance that they will come around on their own.

Don’t be a jerk about it, but don’t let them stop you. The ‘I don’t get it’ crowd will always be there and there’s not a lot we can do to change that.

Three: the system may take a little while to cool down…

Even if you didn’t succeed in your NANOWRIMO quest, if you put in a good effort you have probably learned something and gained new skills and abilities. You will also need a little while to shift back into ‘normal’ mode (that’s why this post is coming out on December 8^th and not December 1^st…). And, it might be a good idea to put a little time and distance between your initial writing and the assessing and editing process… You need the space and perspective.

Solution: no solution needed! Go clean out the ‘fridge, walk the dog, buy those Christmas presents you’ve been putting off, or whatever it is you need to do. And then come back and keep writing. Give yourself a little space and see what has changed and how you improved (for instance my transcribing from notes speed is up by about 50%!).

As I said going into NANOWRIMO the whole experience is a good thing if you use it correctly. Whether you succeeded or not, if you want to be a writer (or if you are a writer) the thing to do now is to recover from the experience and learn what you can from what you’ve done and produced. It will help you in the long run.

That’s it for this one dear reader… Next time, back to our regular schedule (for about a week and then the holidays happen…)