November Diary

~ Meg

National Novel Writing Month… I wonder if you’re as sick of it as I am. I did not “win” NaNo Nonsense. “Win” – what is that all about? You don’t really win anything. You haven’t beaten other competitors to the finish line or written the best manuscript. It’s totally meaningless. Oh, I sound bitter!

So it wasn’t all bad. I undertook this challenge as a way to get this novel going again. I had started working on it –plotting, writing character bios, collecting bits of dialogue– back in February and hadn’t touched it since. My feeling is that a series can only go so long between installments before the readers lose interest. And though I’ve swerved far from the original writing path I embarked upon, I feel the need to take this series and these characters to the finish line. After this, I have plans for a final Bucks County novel, for a total of six – a double trilogy- that will conclude the stories of all the main characters.

Anyway, back to NaNo Nonsense…

My final word count tallied at 48,679. So close … 1,321 words to go. The funny thing is that I had plenty of time to write during the day, the 1,321 should have been a piece of cake. I finished writing last evening around 9:45 having written about 250 words all day – one paragraph. I found myself feeling defiant. Screw you NaNoWriMo – you can’t tell me what to do, how fast to write, not to edit as I go, just to put it all down and fix it later. Now I really sound bitter…

That was the hardest thing for me -not editing as I go. I don’t like revisiting the story to fix problems I created back in chapter two when I’m on chapter twenty-four. My habit is to re-read the preceding chapter before going on to the next. I follow my timeline spreadsheet to keep track of events and correct any minor errors along the way. Writing at the pace of nearly 1700 words a day in a continuous story doesn’t allow much time for that.

**A side note** Writing 1700 words a day is not that difficult. IF its a piece of short fiction or a non-fiction blog post. But when you have to keep track of what you’d written previously -who said what to whom, what happened when, did I reveal this plot point yet- 1700 words is massive.

Ah, anyway it’s done. I will keep plugging away at the story now that I’m in the zone. As many of you have been reading along, I’ve decided to keep publishing the story until the novel is complete. I’ll pull the excerpts from the blog when the book is ready to publish. And hope that you’ll kindly review the book when it goes up on Amazon. More on that when the time comes.

Welcome December and a respite from my labor.

Header Image: The Grey Tree; Piet Mondrian

 

Published by Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

52 thoughts on “November Diary”

  1. Well Meg, you are a WINNER in my book! Yes. Yes, you are. Congrats on being a WINNER in my ‘book.’ 😉 Also, I too don’t like revisiting my work to fix changes. In fact, I deplore it. Which is why my first novel is taking AGES to edit. But I have blogged an accompaniment to my novel-in my blog:’ Life With My Grandparents’….so that keeps me going and gives me the much needed impetus to fix any problems…if there are any problems. Erm…who am I kidding-of course there are problems- but I would rather write than fix. Can I get an ‘Amen!’ 😉

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    1. Amen, sister! And thank you! I don’t mind editing, I just don’t want to have to do major rewrites. Making those changes as you go is so much easier and smoother going I think!

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  4. Driving outside forces, they get so annoying! I can’t imagine it’s productive to the creative process. You ARE “The Winner”. Stick to what’s good for you.

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  5. “I found myself feeling defiant. Screw you NaNoWriMo – you can’t tell me what to do, how fast to write, not to edit as I go, just to put it all down and fix it later.”
    This doesn’t sound bitter at all! I would have felt exactly the same way had I embarked on the challenge. And it’s the number one reason why I don’t embark on the challenge. That, and I don’t have any good ideas germinating at the moment!
    Editing as I go is my biggest problem – but is it? All the writing “advice” out there says not to do it, but I simply can’t stop myself. When I finally came to the realization that I needed to take all of that so-called advice with a grain of salt, I instantly reduced my stress about writing. I don’t get any more writing done than before, but I no longer beat myself up over it.
    I’m loving the story and I’m glad you’ll keep posting excerpts. 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Rita! I think the advice about not editing is silly. I like keeping my previous thoughts in my mind – it helps with the flow. Plus I don’t have to make massive changes later. Everyone has their own methods! I won’t do NaNo again but I’m glad I got all this writing done – I’m on a roll!

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  6. Congrats on being persistent! Sounds to me that even though you didn’t make the 50K goal of NaNoWriMo, you achieved your goal of kick-starting your novel. That’s much better than some number. Now you deserve a break!

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  10. Ha! you are a funny character. You could have so easily wrote those words. I was happy when I wrote just over 50 000 words and I don’t dare look at the story again. It’s there in a word doc. It’s a rough draft that probably has so many errors .Glad you got to work on your novel though xx

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    1. No! Not at all. I just emailed you … so forget what I said there. Next week is fine. And thank you, another one from the Met. Sketching the solid white figures was more difficult than I imagined.

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  12. The main idea of doing NaNo was to get started on your fifth novel again and that you have accomplished, so in my books you are a Winner!
    I had to completely ignore my blog and all the blogs I read to be able to do NaNo, it was hectic but it helped me make progress on my novel so I guess it was good.
    Well, I’m back for now so it’s time for me to catch up 😀

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    1. I did accomplish my goal, so for that I am happy! And now I’m on a roll so I’ll keep going till the finish albeit at a slower pace. I don’t like the way NaNo forces you to write, though… I like to edit as I go! It was driving me crazy not to! Looking forward to new limerick challenges!

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      1. The “don’t edit” part was the most difficult rule for me to follow as well, initially it drove me crazy but now I guess I’m used to it although I would like to edit as I go. I get what you mean, their rules can be annoying!
        Looking forward to reading more limericks from you too!

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