It’s December 3rd today, which (shockingly) means it is no longer November… and now that I’ve stated the obvious I will also mention it is no longer NaNoWriMo. Did I write 50k words last month?
No.
Did I meet my personal goal of completing the first draft of Wide Awake?
Nope.
I guess this makes me an official NaNoWriMo failure, but as I mentioned on my Twitter, I don’t feel like a failure. Here is what I accomplished:
- I created an outline. Before this, it was just a smattering of scenes, some sprinkled moments and fun quotes. I didn’t even know exactly how the damn thing was going to end… but I do now!
- I wrote approximately 10k words. By NaNoWriMo standards, this is low. But I am new to writing professionally. Less than a year ago, when this was still just a hobby, I only wrote if and when I felt like it. I’d never finished a single novel-length story in my life until Lucid Dreaming. Being disciplined and methodical about writing is still something I’m learning, and I don’t expect to be great at it right away.
- I read eight books. I love to read, and if there’s one thing the last six months has taught me, it’s that reading improves my writing. Every book I read makes me a better writer, so bring on the books!
Maybe I didn’t achieve my goal, but I am at peace with it. I’m just going to keep on truckin’. The book will get finished, and I already have a project in mind after that.
PLUS, I have a collaborative project I am working on which I will announce soon…
Heather Blair 
You are definitely not a failure! You did what you could and the fact that you started means that you took a step that a lot of people did not! I wanted to take part in NaNoWriMo as writer myself but did not take the plunge with all the other projects I want to get off the ground so to me, you are a ★!
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