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December 4, 2007 NaNoWriMo Lessons Learned 
(As I write this, Frances is building a haunted house out of cereal boxes, stuffed toys, slippers, and paper bags. "It's very haunted, and it looks nice to me," she says. I see. "You should go inside," she says. Of course.) 1. I actually can write 2000 words a day. 2. But only if I drastically cut down the exercise, housework, and sleep. 3. So really, I can't. 4. But I can easily see how I could do 500-1000 without having to cut down drastically on the exercise, housework and sleep. 5. I might have a nervous breakdown, but that's a separate problem. 6. I can't write without an outline. I got to 18,000 words and then lost track of the subplots and had to sketch them out to see where I should go next. 7. On the other hand, the characters did some surprising things. None of them threw the main plot off course, thank goodness, although the motivations changed. 8. And I didn't need to have everything planned out. I got to 18,000, did a sketch, and kept going. So that's new. (Frances is looking for a toy, Dora-style: "The Boots-maker is green. If you see something green, say green! Yay, we did it! Thanks for helping!") 9. The downside was seeing, when I was done, that I was going to have to go back and fill in a whole lot of background information. 10. Why am I telling you this? 11. So next on the list of Things To Do is: make a big list of all the stuff that needs to be fixed. 12. After January 1, start fixing it, in one-hour daily increments. 13. Repeat. 14. I'm hoping to have it in non-embarrassing shape around the middle of next June, because on the advice of a friend, I signed up for one of UofT's summer writing courses, and I'd like to have this ready for outside eyes so I can bring it along then. The most important thing I learned is that, when I make writing a priority and give myself a deadline, it gets done; and I don't have to farm Frances out, quit my job, stop cooking, stop exercising, stop sleeping, or stop reading--although it's true I do a whole lot less of those things, and absolutely no hobbies whatsoever. I'll keep plugging away. I'll finish it up, polish it, obsess over it for a while, and send it out. It will be rejected, but that's ok; I'll have learned something from this anyway. Posted by Andrea at December 4, 2007 6:38 AM under Wordsmithery EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments It sounds like a very worthwhile exercise. (And LOL about the Frances sidebars.) Posted by: Julie Pippert at December 4, 2007 10:02 AM
I experienced 6, 8, and 9, too. I was glad about 9, because I want my finished story to be half again as long, but it's a little hard to work up the energy to attack right now, with all the December things that need doing. I really put everything off in November. But it still feels really good. Posted by: Sarahlynn at December 7, 2007 4:34 PM
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