I Surprised Myself

Many of you participated in and succeeded in the NaNoWriMo. 😃
I’ve NEVER participated in the NaNo because it’s a bad month for me. Like many of you, I love the holidays. And, when November approaches, things start to get crazy. We have a large family for Thanksgiving dinner. Usually family travel in to visit and enjoy Brett’s delicious turkey. We are thankful for our family and spend hours planning for their visit as well as lots of food for our immediate family. The one time I tried the NaNo project, it became too stressful. But, I ran across some suggestion that you might want to try.

If you’re new to it, here’s how it works. Starting November 1, write, write, write, reaching a goal of 50,000 words by 11:59 PM on November 30. This happens each year and many of you have reached that goal and some, like me, have not. On their website, https://nanowrimo.org there are steps to get started and even support. By the end of the month, you have a rough (I mean rough) draft of a complete 50,000 word novel. Congratulations to those that reached that goal last month.

On November 6, I read Kristen Lamb’s blog, NaNoWriMo: Training to Go Pro and Stay Pro, that inspired me to try NaNo this year (actually, I didn’t sign up on the site because I was afraid I’ll give up if stressed and it was already six days into the month, so I was already behind), but after reading her blog, I changed my mind. It’s a great blog and if you’ve ever thought about writing 50,000 word in November – read these tips by Kristen: http://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/11/nanowrimogopro/

I tried her idea. First I decided on a goal, then divided it according to what I had to accomplish throughout the day. It had to be a reasonable goal because I knew if I reached too high, I’d give up long before the end of the month. My writing word total for the day was to be 600. I figured I could write 600 words a day if I divided it among my list of tasks. 

First thing in the mornings, I made my list of things that HAD to get done that day, including 600 words written. I made a decision to write only 200 words three times throughout the day in-between completing the home tasks (dealing with a retired hubby, cleaning, laundry, cooking, getting ready for guest, etc.). To my surprise, I was able to get my 600 words completed by the end of the day.

What surprised me even more was how I was able to focus on my writing when it was time to write, and most times I wrote more than 200 words.To my surprise there were days that I wrote over 2000 words! (Did this sound confusing – sorry).

Did I write 50,000 words in November? No, but I did write over 16,989 plus I wrote several paragraphs for the rest of the chapters and added scenes that could happen in each chapter. These were words I wouldn’t have written if I hadn’t tried Kristen Lamb’s suggestion. Thanks to her I now have the entire novel laid out and ready to dive into. 

I didn’t reach the NaNo’s goal of 50,000 words, but I’m way ahead with my story and know what, where, how and when everything is happening. I have a smile on my face because my story has moved forward in a month (minus the first 6 days) that might have taken me two months. If November is a busy month for you, maybe you might want to try these suggestions in 2018.

I know this is a long blog, but one more thing. I was excited that Karibou Magic was a finalist in the 14^th Annual Best Book Awards Sponsored by American BookFest

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

XOXOXO Judy