We made it!
Phew! Now that was quite the challenge, eh? NaNoWriMo is officially over and thank you so much for following me along on this little journey. Whether or not it inspired you to try NaNo, I sincerely hope you took something out of my first attempt at it. If (for whatever reason) you are reading this after all the fun, I linked each week’s update down below.
Check out my blog if you want even more.
With that said, here’s a quick recap of the final few days!
Day 28
- A short and sweet session, where I caught a glimpse of my story’s finale even though it’s still all over the place since I haven’t been writing chronologically.
- My characters shared a pretty brutal fight scene with me between my protagonist’s ally and his brother (it was pretty awesome, lol).
- Spent 25 minutes writing
Day 29
- Unexpectedly brief session today.
- I think I’m just ready for NaNo to end at this point.
- Writing fiction to a deadline isn’t exactly helping as much as I would like it to, but I figured as much.
- At such a late stage of NaNo, I feel like my characters are simply helping me fill in some missing details of the story here and there.
- Spent 30 minutes writing
- One day left…
Day 30
- My last day of NaNo was pretty solid. However, I know I have a lot more work ahead of me.
- My main character got to meet a squad of “colorful” knights and saw snow for the first time, which was actually pretty cute.
- My manuscript is a jumbled mess, and know I have a ton of editing ahead of me, but I love my characters and story (even if it is fragmented, right now).
- Today was my first time seeing my word count, and it’s a lot more than I’ve ever written in a month, that’s for sure (lol).
- Spent 80 minutes writing
Recap
Writing time during the last few days:
135 minutes
Total writing time for NaNoWriMo:
1120 minutes = 18 hours and 40 minutes
Overall:
I knew NaNo was going to be tough, but now I know how tough. Even with rest days thrown in, it was still more challenging than expected.
Throughout the month, I’ve learned a ton about myself as a writer. Where my weak spots were, my strengths while writing fiction, etc. It’s quite the humbling experience for a first timer like me. I’ve written more than I’ve ever written in such a short amount of time and… I loved it 😉
Word count wasn’t my focus this month. I was simply interested in challenging myself creatively and enjoying the journey rather than the destination. In the end, no matter what the focus was, I’ve grown as a writer.
And that (in my humble opinion) was the whole point.
Thank you!
It was quite the challenge and even though I focused on writing time over word count; I have nothing but respect for those of you who aim for the 50,000 word count NaNo is so famous for.
Some of you may ask, “If you’re not trying to reach 50,000 words, then are you even doing NaNo at that point?”
Yes! I began writing my novel, and IT IS National Novel Writing Month, right? (Thankfully it’s not called National Novel Completing Month, lol.) I just focused my energy on writing time.
Why?
It was mostly a personal challenge. And I know myself well enough to know that worrying about word count while I’m in the middle of creating a story alongside my characters would’ve just slowed me down or turn on my inner editor. Nothing wrong with aiming to write 50,000 words in a single month, but that would simply go against my natural workflow and creative process. (I’m weird, remember? Lol).
My final word count?
As I mentioned above, it wasn’t my primary focus during this year’s NaNo. But… I know some of you may be curious to know, so my grand total for my first ever NaNoWriMo was…*drum roll*… 16,501 words.
I hope you had a great month of writing and enjoyed reading my weekly updates!
Again, thank you so much for following me on my somewhat awkward first attempt at NaNoWriMo. I hope it at least made you smile 🙂
Stay tuned for my next post as I’ll be sharing with you the lessons I learned along the way.
Happy reading and writing!
Jeff Aybar is a writer, writing & creativity coach, Sci-Fi/Fantasy nerd, INFJ, veteran, and all-around creative. You can get a free copy of his guide for writers and artists on starting the creative journey by signing up to his newsletter HERE.