Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The NaNo's Over

I'm sort of waiting to hear from some NaNoWriMo writers about their experiences this year. I didn't do it, but only because of what I learned the first year I participated. I learned that I don't have wrists or fingers that can do 1666 words a day every day for a month. I succeeded in putting out the words for about a week and a half my first time, then had to resort to ice and NSAIDs.

But I got a cool spreadsheet out of it. NaNo no longer uses it, but I do. The writers that year were encouraged to borrow the spreadsheet, adapt it, and use it however they wanted to. I still use variations of it for my projects.

So my main takeaways were the knowledge of just how much I CAN write per day and survive--and the spreadsheet.

I'd like to know if anyone else gained insights, self-knowledge, practical tips, or a full novel from the experience this year.

4 comments:

  1. This was my 5th NaNo, and the hardest by far. I don't know what it was about it this year, but I got behind and didn't catch back up until the last day when it was do or die.

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  2. But you did catch up! Good going, Doug.

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  3. could you tell us about the spreadsheet? Sounds like an organizational tool that could rescue me from my own chaos.
    I did do Nano again this year, second year. Finally got through to the end of a WIP that was stalled. Or course everything changed, and the next draft will not look anything like the first. But got to the end!
    Kath

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  4. Kath, if you email me at kayegeorge at gmail dot com I'll send you a copy. Or copies. I have several versions.

    Sounds like you're on your way with the manuscript!

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