Easy Peasy...My 1st NaNo Experience.

I have been hearing about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for years. But there was always something going on that made it impossible for me to participate. And for something like this, for me, failure is not an option. When I commit to something, I do it. If there is a chance that I will just not be able to do it completely and give my full effort, I won't commit.

But this year I had nothing going on. I wanted to finish my work in progress by the end of the year. It was halfway finished and another 50,000 words would be perfect. Technically I was breaking NaNo "rules" by not starting a brand new project, but oh well. I learned I wasn't the only NaNo rebel out there.

So here's my thoughts on NaNo.

The NaNo website is great. Lots of supportive people there. And you can fine other writers in your area and get together for writing dates and such. very cool. I didn't do it..just not an option for me, but cool for others.

The word count at first seemed daunting, but it's really not. I usually give myself a 1000 word goal for the day when I am in active creating mode. (I often switch between weeks/months of only creating mode or editing mode. I prefer not to do both at once. Just my personal writing style.) So, the most I have ever written in a month's time has been about 30,000 words. I can't write everyday, with the family and other obligations, but I made up my word count other days. So I wasn't real sure I'd be able to do NaNo and keep up. But I surprised myself and wrote over 8000 words the first three days. I did fall behind...there were 4 days I wrote nothing. Just had lots going on personally. But in the end, I wrote over 52,000 words. It wasn't nearly as hard as I'd thought. It was a matter of just getting on the computer and writing....just doing it, no excuses.

As with any writing venture, you can't complete it without drive and determination. Part of mine was not wanting to fail. It's a great motivator.

How did all my blogging friends do on NaNo this year??

Busy busy busy! What's your excuse???

I know my blogging frequency has gone downhill...waaaayyyyy downhill...like down-Everest. I used to blog 4-5 times a week, and lately it's been 1-2 max. I hate that I have not been here like I used to be.

But I've noticed I'm not the only one. Makes me wonder if the blogging thing is done and outdated. I love Twitter...been doing that a lot the last few months. But honestly...even that seems a bit slow now. What will the new thing be???

But anyway, things here have been hectic for me. I've been putting most of my time to writing and editing and trying to push my career forward. Once I finished copy edits for my next release, (Karma Kameleon in January 2012!)  I sat wondering what to do next. It was October and there were still two goals for 2011 that I hadn't met yet. I'd planned on revising an old manuscript and getting it ready to submit again. And I'd wanted to finish another complete manuscript. I had one that I started in May. I was 40K in....about halfway.

So I made a plan. And the plan was gonna need A LOT of my time. I spent the last two weeks of October revising my old MS. I managed to get it to a good place and fixed all the things that were wrong...added the subplot I desperately needed.  Then on November first, I dove into my first ever NaNoWriMo. Now I was not playing by the rules...I was being a total Nano rebel, but I was using it to finish my project instead of starting a new one. 50K would definitely get my MS where it needed to be.

Plus throw in the complete planning and prep for my parent's 30th anniversary party last weekend.

But I am happy to say everything is going well. I got behind on NaNo over the weekend with the party....4 days went by without one single word typed. BUT I am happy to say I am almost back on track. I was hoping to be on course by tomorrow, but it looks like it may happen today if I can stop fooling around on Twitter and Fb and Blogger and actually go write. But in my defense, I'm kinda stuck right now, so I needed the break. :)

So, continued wishes for luck on your NaNo projects or whatever you are all doing! have a great day!

To NaNo or not to NaNo?????? And Contest winner!

I've decided to NaNo this year. But I'm being a rebel. Technically you are supposed to start a new project for National Novel Writing Month...but I'm not. I have a book I started earlier this year and need to finish by the end of the year (It was one of my New Year's Resolutions). So, I decided to participate in NaNo this year and finish it. Not sure if I'll need the full 50K to do it, but we'll see. It's at 41K now....so I need at least another 40K.

But I'm delayed by a day or two. Two weeks ago I made a personal goal to revise and do one edit of an old project that's been on my hard drive for years. This story is really great (I think, anyway) and after these tweaks, I think it might finally find a home out in the publishing world. But I just didn't have enough time to finish. I'm only a day or two away, so NaNo will wait. I'm sure I can catch up.

So, without further ado.....the winner of my Spooktacular Blog Hop Giveaway is:


Holly Wright!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!!