Well, WriMos, here we are at the beginning of December. We’ve spent the last month sprinting and scribbling, scribbling and sprinting, and now we get to reap the benefits of our hard work. Regardless of the number of words that we’ve written, NaNo is a wonderful learning experience.
Em’s Check-in
Since I wrote my last check-in I won NaNo! It wasn’t a big loud glorious win but it was a win, four days early in fact! As I said I would I mulled things over and then last saturday sat down and over the course of a couple of hours I added bits and pieces into my book. Some bits were tiny details I wanted to include or a slightly extended description. I added in a couple of conversations, one that I really liked that I hope will make the final draft whenever I get round to editing.
On Saturday when I got to 50,006 words (50,014 on Scrivener) I validated my word count, text friends and family and since then I have not written. I am ok with that. I want to work out what I want to do next. I am not going to look at my NaNo until atleast January and I want to set myself some goals to take me through December and the busy Christmas period. One of my ideas is to read lots of writing craft books which would help me when I come to edit. I really need to decide what’s next for me. Another murder mystery? A chick-lit story? Who knows. And I am happy to have some down time to decide my plan of action!
The sprints I took part in where brilliant for keeping me on track and motivating me and some of us hope to continue these but not daily…that is what the intensity of NaNo is for! I am definately going to do NaNo next year and possibly CampNaNo. I am excited already!!! I am still reflecting on my NaNo experience and will no doubt blog about it soon but for now I am just enjoying the feeling of achieving 50,000 words in a month!
The community that surrounds NaNo has been amazing and Fun not Fear has been such a brilliant experience for me and I thank Lena so much for making it happen, you are amazing!
Well done to everyone who has scribbled and typed furiously and even if you didn’t make 50,000 words, think about all that you have achieved. I can’t wait to do it all again and I hope you will all be along for the ride!
Lena’s Check-in
I finished NaNo on Saturday, a few days early, with a little over 50k. Like Em, the ending wasn’t grand or glorious; I was in the midst of writing a conversation when my little Scrivener alert popped up and said, “Project target achieved,” or something of that nature. It was one of those moments when I wanted to jump up and scream with excitement, but I think my parents would’ve been totally weirded out, so I just kept on writing. 🙂
I haven’t touched my story since Saturday, and oh gosh, I am going through withdrawals. I miss the steady pace of writing every day, but I’ve had to take some time off so I can deal with all the responsibilities for the end of the academic quarter. I have a thesis to revise by mid-month, a final paper to write by Monday, and a stack of papers to grade, starting next Wednesday. The good news, though, is that once I’ve finished all three of those herculean tasks, I’ll have a month of leisure to do whatever I want. Writing is going to be at the very top of the list.
In addition to my NaNo story, I have a steampunk novel that I started for Camp NaNo that I’d like to return to, and a couple of other ideas floating around in my head that I’d like to tackle at some point. I’m trying to stay focused, because I’d still like to actually finish something one of these days, but it feels good to have ideas flowing.
I have to echo Em and say that the NaNo community has been absolutely fantastic. All of the sprints on Twitter, all the blog love, and all of the collective effervescence has really made this experience all the more exciting. I think I am now a committed WriMo, and I can’t wait till I can take a stab at things again next year.
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We want to thank everyone for stopping by each week and sharing the highs and lows of the writing process. It’s been wonderful connecting with you here and on Twitter. Tell us, what are your plans now that NaNo is through?
-Em and Lena
Fun Not Fear! 
Hello & huge congrats to you both!
Now that NaNo is over, I’m going to publish my new novella, Her Dark Baron – which should be live by 05 December!! Woo-hoo! Then…I’ll take about two weeks off – by which I mean that I will write if and when I feel like it in the pre-holiday bustle that consumes my house before Christmas.
Once the holidays are over, I think I’m going to set a thousand word a day writing goal and finish off my NaNo story – The Third Fate. I’m in love with this story! It needs a bit of help to become the shiny gem I know is hiding under all my being verbs and extra adjectives….and I’ll probably set a 31 March publish goal! Exciting times!!
What about you? Do either of you plan on publishing during 2012?
Hi girls 🙂 As you both know, I hit 50,000 on Sunday morning. I ended up with 54,444 after starting THE BEST SCENE EVER (thanks, Em, for that lightbulb) at about 49,500! I may need to consider changing my favorite number to 4 lol. I am insanely excited to have finished, and the process was amazing. I don’t have a book or even a complete draft yet…but I’ve got something. It turns out that Nano will have been some sort of exploration/fast draft for me, but I am totally ok with that. I have a lot of information to sort through. I now what I need to research and pieces and want to figure out further. I have lots of layers that need to be given the perfect home somewhere in the story. I too, think that I’m a Wrimo for life. I really think that I’ll look back on this in several years as a very important experience 😀 Lena and Em, thank you both so much for this site. At first, I was wondering how I was going to check in for a 3rd time in a week, but it has been wonderful to stop by and read your check ins and the comments from others.
I don’t really know what I’m doing next yet. I’m using the next couple days to figure that out and should have new #ROW80 goals by Sunday.