Our thoughts, opinions, and experiences week- NaNoWriMo!

I recently participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time ever!

I really enjoyed the experiences. It has long been a goal of mine to establish a daily writing habit and NaNo certainly helped with that. I was quite addicted to updating my word count daily.

While I initially overestimated myself, planning to wake up at 5am and write every day (spoilers- this only happened the first two days), I was able to set aside time in each day to write. And because I was focused on word count, I didn't go back and reread everything I had previously written a gazillion times, which meant I was actually creating new words.

I also had the opportunity to make some new writing buddies, and that was an unexpected perk.

Now did NaNoWriMo enable me to write a novel? No.

But I did write 50,000 words that will be the backbone to an upcoming novel I have planned for about 80,000 words. Because I didn't outline or plot at all, a lot of what I have written will end up being backstory and may not actually make its way into the book. But through this exercise, I have gained a richer understanding of the characters, world, and conflict, so I don't feel like there were any words wasted.

Will I do NaNo again? Yes!

I really enjoyed the experience, met cool people, and accomplished a lot more than I would if left to my own devices. 

I think lessons learned here for me are: 

*Daily writing does help- but you should allow for mental breaks as needed

*Focus on new words and save the editing until your at least halfway through the novel

*Setting deadlines for myself is helpful (even if they are imaginary)

*Having accountability partners really helps!

After winning NaNo, I also picked up Plottr, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I am usually a pantser so for now I am using it to make sure I am hitting my beats and that my pacing is on point as I revise. It's also great for tracking subplots, character arcs, twists and so on. :)

Happy Writing all!!!