Back From NaNoWriMo

Hey there Epic Dreamers! I’m finally back from NaNoWriMo land, and let me tell you I am so glad to be back in Invisible World land with you all again. I’ve missed you so much! Just clicking that “new post” button made me feel all nostalgic. Has it really only been a month? I’m sure it’s been a year at least. I think I may have even forgotten how to write a blog post. 😛

So now that I’m back, you’re all probably waiting for me to spill the news. How was NaNo? Did I make it to the 50,000 words it takes to win? Did I get a lot done on The Hashna Stone?

Well, there’s good news and bad news.  And then some more good news.

First, I’ll start out with the story of my NaNo experience.

Like every November that I’ve challenged myself to write so many words, it has it’s ups and downs. The first week I charge in full speed, writing like crazy. I wonder why writing ever seemed hard. At this rate I could finish NaNo by next week.

Then the second week starts, and I lose some of that momentum. The excitement of starting something new is waning and whatever magic had me doing impossible feats like pumping out 5,000 in one day isn’t there. I’m still meeting my daily word count goal and writing and my daily writing sessions aren’t leaving me feeling like superwoman, but I’m not feeling exhausted either.

Then the third week rolls around. The dreaded third week, with its burn out and energy-zapping fangs that sink themselves into every NaNo participant’s little writer soul and drain them of motivation. At this point I’m pretty sure all the words I wrote in the first week were a figment of my imagination because there is no way I could have such a drastic difference in output in such a small amount of time.

The fourth week is much the same, with Thanksgiving (if you’re in the U.S.) taking your time and too much turkey slowing your writer brain down. But thank goodness this slump doesn’t last forever because…

Then, finally, the last week comes around. It’s at this point that I look at my word count and realize how close to my goal I actually am. This gives me the motivation to push the doubt and exhaustion and somehow pull through.

So yes, I did finish NaNoWriMo with 51,879 words.

That’s the good news. Now the not so good news.

I’ll just say it; I’m not finished with the first draft of the Hashna Stone.

I may have finished NaNo, but I’m far from being finished with my first draft. Even with 51,879 words written, I’m only half way through the story.

That means I have a whole lot more work to do. I’m tired just thinking about it. I don’t want to think about it actually. Can I just surround myself with Christmas lights and turn the Christmas music up so loud that my brain simply forgets all the work that needs to be done from sheer Christmas overload?

Maybe after the Holidays I’ll recover enough from NaNo to keep working on this story. But for now, I need a break.

Usually after NaNo I feel super pumped, but this time I just feel drained. I think that’s because finishing my previous NaNo challenges meant finishing the story. This time it only made me realize just how much more work there is a head of me.

Does this mean I’m giving up on The Hashna Stone?

Of course not! I love this story and the characters. I’m dedicated to getting finishing it.

I’m just going to take a break from working on it in December, because let’s face it, Christmas takes every bit of our extra time.

So what’s the other good news?

That The Hashna Stone is longer! It’s shaping up to be twice the size as the blog version. It’s becoming a real book!

As much as writing a book can be a real pain, I’m excited to see how this story takes shape. It stays true to the theme and characters of the original version, but it has a lot of little differences that make it exciting for me to revisit. It’s like a whole new story in some ways.

Well, I guess that’s it for today. Excuse me while I recover from NaNo by wrapping myself in a blanket and not moving until the end of December.

 

 

 

This little blue bird will take you to my Twitter page where it will continuously feed you random lines about writing, blogging, and the world inside my head.