NaNoWriMo Day 23 – 30 – A Parent’s Journey

Day 23 (Sunday)

Word Count: 18, 586

Day 24 (Monday)

Word Count: 19,286 (up 700)

Day 25 (Tuesday)

Word Count: The same

Day 26 (Wednesday)

Word Count: 22,469 (up 3183 )

Day 27 (Thursday)

Word Count: The same

Day 28 (Friday)

Word Count: The same

Day 29 (Saturday)

Word Count: The same

Day 30 (Sunday) LAST DAY!

Word Count: 23,777 (1308)

Well! We did it! We made it through another year of National Novel Writing Month! Wow!

While I’m not a winner according to the rules of NaNoWriMo – that is, I didn’t write 50,000 words in one month – I did write my little heart out this month, and hit well over 50,000 in my novel overall.

Here are the stats:

NaNoWriMo Word Count Total: 23,777

My ‘writingest’ day was Wednesday, November 26, when I churned out a whopping 3,183 words. I was writing late at night…into the early morning. The house was quiet. The kids and the hubby were fast asleep. My fingers were speedy and precise and my mind was pouring out story like nobody’s business.

Overall, I found that I wrote the most at night when the family was in bed and the house was quiet, a night owl sitting comfortably on my shoulders. I wrote on my laptop and enjoyed the feel of the flat keyboard, when usually I prefer the clickety-clack of the raised keyboard I have with my desktop.

I missed a load of days, and I think I missed more days than I actually wrote on…but the month was busy, as each month always turns out to be.

The stats on my novel overall, however, are fantastic.

Overall Novel Word Count: 61,089

227 pages

23 Chapters

I’m extremely happy with myself. I wrote as often as I could without putting too much pressure on myself. I wrote efficiently and with gusto when I did stop and write. I’m very excited about the characters and the story and I feel the end of this book is very, very close.

I’ve proven to myself that I can, indeed, write at least two times a week and pump out 1,000 – 4,000 words if I work my toosh off. I’m on a roll and don’t want to stop until the novel is done – and then edited. I’m actually looking forward to editing, which I think I’ve mentioned before!

The thing is, this is the first book in a series of three (or maybe more..we’ll see!) so I can really stop any time. There will be a second book in which to continue the story.  And so, even though I didn’t hit the grand 50,000 for NaNoWriMo, I hit it overall and I’m glad I made myself participate. In two years, this was the most I’ve written in a span of 30 days – there’s something to be said for that. GO YOU! That’s what’s to be said!

I wrote so much in general this month, it’s a miracle I managed to get out over 20k words for my novel. It’s kind of a challenging month to write what with the holidays around the corner, the weather changing, the sun setting so early, and the part of the first semester of schooling when everything feels heavy and exhausting.

I feel good. I feel happy with my results. I feel like there’s nothin’ can stop me now – well, except me, of course. And I won’t stop because I can taste the ending in my mouth. I fall asleep into dreams of me being interviewed about how this book series has signed a massive movie deal and how do I feel about writing the scripts too? My agent is beaming at me off camera, the kids and the hubby are in the green room watching and applauding. And I cry like a baby on national television I’m so happy.

I’ll definitely keep you updated on how my novel proceeds. Including a teaser trailer I’m working on with the hubby – so you can finally see/read what this novel is actually about! It’s called ‘Hangman’…let your mind go from there!

Congratulations to Roger B who is a true winner – clocking in his 50K before the end of the month! And to all the others who participated in NaNoWriMo this year. Also to those working on novels in general – it’s a mighty feat, ya’ll. Keep going. You got this!

Here’s a cover I did just to tease ya…

(noose art by http://druart.deviantart.com/art/Noose-26888376)