Tuesday, December 2, 2014

The Holiday Season approaches, NaNoWriMo comes to a close

Being that it is officially December the stores are finally justified in playing the same Christmas music over and over and over and over, on a loop and National Novel Writing Month comes to a close.

I'm proud to say that this year I won, completed 50, 000 words, which at time proved to be very difficult. But at the same time it was a lot of fun. I learned more about certain characters and their back story by forcing myself to write--unfortunately, lax writing times produced much garbage that will need to be weeded out. Don't expect to see The Complex on shelves any time soon.

Congratulations to all those that succeeded in their writing endeavors and props to all those that tried. Even if you didn't get your entire goal done in November, don't give up, and still give yourself a pat on the back. You did really well by even trying. Not many people would have. So, celebrate!



With November coming to a close and December 1st finally here, the fact that I can no longer complain about Christmas music is saddening. But other than that this month is off to quite a start. Minor crisis aside, this month--well, if you want honesty I have to admit that this month is looking grim, because as no one actually knows, I'm not a fan of Christmas. And especially as December 12th draws ever closer I feel that same sense of complete dread taking root in my gut. 

But other than that I've got some things to look forward to, mainly appointments with my disability specialist, a couple doctors, and a check up with the surgeon. The thing about this is that you're only really excited about doctor's appointments if you're have any sort of chronic pain problem. Of course, at the same time you almost always leave completely effing disappointed, because, guess what! The doctors can't actually fix you. And rarely do they successfully help you. 


I am looking forward to them though because I have been struggling with a lot of stuff and I do believe that this doc will be able to help me in one way or another. Overall I'm feeling positive about this month, I'll be looking into the possibility of resuming my schooling as well, which believe it or not, I actually love. 




In honor of Nation Novel Writing Month coming to a close I've decided to answer the following questions that were sent out by NaNo staff; reflecting on how the month went and what I learned. 


National Novel Writing Month 

Personal Reflection Time

These questions were taken from a letter sent out from the NaNoWriMo staff; So You Participated in NaNoWriMo...; 

What are you most proud of achieving this month?


This month I'm proud of having reached and actually surpassed my goal of 50 000 words. I'm really glad that I decided to stick with it and write every damn day, even though, some day what I wrote was garbage.  

What did you learn about yourself as a writer?

I learned that I get distracted easily when I don't have an outline or a basic goal in mind for each chapter. Yet, it is almost impossible for me to write an outline. I find that it is really hard and very difficult to do, but when done it can help with keeping the novel and I on track as to where everyone is supposed to end up. I already knew that my stories are all character driven and that my characters are mysteries that I uncover. The characters are very life like in the way that they have there own stories but don't necessarily give up all their secrets at once. Some characters ended up surprising me. 

What excites you about this draft of your novel?

This draft of the novel excites me because it isn't finished yet. I reached the goal of 50, 000 words but the book is yet to be finished. I think that this draft, though, a rough copy, has much room for improvement. I believe that I've learned more about this world and these characters as I wrote it, which helps future me when I get to the revising and rewriting stage.


I think what was most important about NaNoWriMo is that I found out I can do it. I can set word goals and write everyday, even when I'm not feeling particularly inspired. I knew beforehand that I would be able to write 50 000 words in a month if I wanted to, but actually following through with it made it knowing I could very different. It was hard but worth it. The reward and satisfaction afterwards is elation, that feeling of awesome accomplishment really sunk that message in.  


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