In the early hours of this morning, 30th November 2012, I reached the ultimate goal: 50,010 words.
The stats:
- Final verified count: 51012
- Average daily word count: 1759
- Days of active writing: 19
- Word count per day active: 2684
- Number of plots used: 3
- Number of unrelated ‘short’ stories written: 4
- Number of times I made myself cry: 3
It wasn’t easy, this year. I did a lot of things wrong, spent too much time procrastinating and doing other things instead of concentrating on my story. I flounced at the most minor interruptions, claimed writer’s block when really I was too busy faffing on the internet. I drank too much coffee and far too much wine.
Wait… that’s what writers are supposed to do. I take that back.
I’m not sure where I went ‘wrong’ in comparison to last year; it’s not that the plot was better last year because it really wasn’t. But last year, I did manage to stick to the same story for the full 50,000 words. This time, I really struggled, and kept writing people into corners, making them do things that didn’t make sense. They swung wildly between totally irrational and bitingly logical; at one moment doing stupid shit that made no sense, and then the next refusing to do something because it just doesn’t feel right, mew mew mew.
I liked them, though, as characters. I may not have represented them well on the page, but they were cool to be around. If a bit angsty. I dreamed of them, at one point. We were doing a crossword. My other half woke me up just as we were about to get 17 across and I was very irate.
Things I learned:
- The thing I thought was a plan? Was not a plan.
- I need to spend more time away from the internet.
- I need to read more. It is hard to write a well-paced scene – well, any scene – when you read nothing but forum posts and memes.
- Coffee + movie soundtracks + full-screen text editor = frightening but super-productive hyperfocus.
- I really enjoy writing.
Hooray for finishing! And I’m super-impressed with your takeaways. I did NaNoWriMo a few years back, and wasn’t anywhere near coherent enough to realize what had worked and what didn’t until…well…I guess I’m still waiting. Cheers!
Thanks! The contrast with last year is so great that it’s actually helped me find lessons I learned then that I hadn’t even realised. So… maybe in a few years I’ll have learned enough to come up with something worth editing.