2013 is the year of so many changes in my life, it’s almost making me nervous in retrospect. And those were good changes! Scary, but good.

2013 is the year I’ve finally taken my writing – and the idea of making writing my career – seriously. Sure, I didn’t write nearly as much as I promised myself I would, but I still wrote a lot.

I have a half-finished manuscript from the summer that I intend to finish in January.

I participated in NaNoWriMo and wrote 50k in a month for the second year in a row. And – unlike last year – I didn’t just let it sit on my hard drive unfinished. I kept writing and finally finished the story, officially making it my first complete manuscript of that length.

I also, for the first time in my life, sent out my short story for submission. And it got accepted.

It got accepted.

I’m still so happy just thinking about it! This is my dream coming true. This is me accomplishing that dream.

I will write about it later on, when it becomes official, but for now I’m just happy I took the chance and did it. It makes me really hopeful for the future and for my goals for 2014.

But I will talk about that in another post. 🙂

Aaaand we’re done! 🙂 Congrats to every NaNo participant! We survived another year.

• The third part of the month was the biggest one for me, word count wise. I wrote almost half of my NaNo novel in those last ten days, ending finally at 50 272 words. The story is not done yet, but it’s close and I just need to add some things here and there to have the first draft complete. Wohoo!

• Story wise, I like how it turned out, even if I know I have to change some things at the beginning, because I went off the original plan a little bit.

• Easiest to write was sex, again, but also some funny cameos from the secondary characters. I love when dialogue just flows.

• Hardest part? Well, I know I can write out of order if I decide to skip a scene, but damn, coming back from writing the happy ending to the times when the characters were at odds was not easy. 😉

I’m so happy I’m still excited about this story! Sure, I’m tired after this month, but I also want to keep going and have that first draft finished before I let it cool it off while I work on other things.

Some Notes From the Edge End

I’ve realized that if I’d have more time during this month – like I had in the last part of it – I could, potentially, write more than 50k a month. Which is, in a way, a revelation for me, because I remember thinking that 50k is a pipe dream just over a year ago.
Maybe I would need a second project to push me through, but this is definitely something to think about next year.
(I think I blame Beyond 50k part of the NaNo Forum for that idea, a little bit. These people are crazy in a fun and inspiring way.)

This year I also let myself have two or three days off when I didn’t write a single word. Although it seemed like a good idea at the time, it actually hurt me in the long run. I broke the pattern and it was more difficult to get on with things later on.

And, finally, something that I guess many of the participants are thinking when NaNo is done: making the time to write every day (or almost every day) doesn’t have to – and shouldn’t have to – end when November ends. Hopefully I will stick to it.

Congratulations to everyone, again!

Yeah, okay, the second part of the month didn’t go according to plan. I was supposed to write more. I didn’t. That’s a short version. The longer one is below.

-> word count wise: last night, at the end of November 20^th, I was at a little over 26k. Yes, I am behind. I expected to be behind, because I had a bunch of important things to deal with, but I was hoping to be, well. Less behind? 😉 I have a lot of free time coming up, though, so I’m not that worried.

-> story wise: I skipped two scenes in the middle, because they were blocking me. I had no idea how to make them interesting, so I set them aside and wrote the next one. And now I’m moving forward again.

-> easiest to write: sex. I actually texted my friend today: “When in doubt, write porn.” 😉

-> hardest to write: these two scenes I mentioned earlier. I know I have to come back to them, because they need to be there, but I decided to skip them for now.

-> what I’m excited about: I’m getting to know my main characters more and more and I like them both. We will see how I’m going to feel when they start making trouble.

-> what I’m worried about: being behind on my word count. I know I can catch up in the next few days, I just want to do it as fast as I can.

That’s it from me. If you’re participating in NaNo, how are you doing? Better? Worse? Or maybe you’re done already?

Remember, remember, it’s “WRITE IT” November!

Wow, one third of the month is gone already! I’ve decided to post a little summary of how those first ten days went for me. I encourage you to share how you’re doing in the comments bellow.

-> word count wise: I’m at ~16800 words, which is about where I’m supposed to be, statistically.

During the first weekend of November my best friend was visiting, so I didn’t write much. It meant that I was behind even before I really started. I wasn’t too worried, though – back in October I planned out my entire month with estimated word count, taking into account my work schedule and other engagements, for exactly that reason: not to spend my time and energy worrying.

! TIP ! Plan your own way. Statistics are one thing, but it’s your own schedule you need to care about the most. There’s nothing wrong with catching up later. And it’s definitely good to know just how much you need to write that specific day to catch up for the loss days.

-> story wise: I needed to make some changes in the outline (my guys weren’t willing to make nice too early), but other than that, I keep moving forward.

-> easiest to write: flashbacks. Those scenes were practically writing themselves. Apparently the teenage versions of my characters are easier to handle than their adult selves. Who knew. 😉

-> hardest to write: political subplot scene I haven’t planned enough for. But I got through it.

! TIP ! “Background of the Thing” isn’t really good enough point in the outline. Shocking, I know.

-> what I’m excited about: I’m engaged in the story now. The beginning was hard, but at some point I just suddenly felt connected to my characters and to what was going on.

-> what I’m worried about: some upcoming days I will have no time to write.

 

Okay, that’s it, I’m going back to writing my story, not writing about writing it. 😉

 

If you’re participating in NaNo, how are you doing? Good? Bad? “I’m going to throw it against the wall and then burn it” bad?