This year I attempted NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. It is when a bunch of writers attempt to write a full first draft of a novel in November. I had been working on the background work and outline for a new project. The project will actually be a series of short books, so I figured it would be a good way to start. The project is Royal Memories.
During the month I wrote a lot and learned some stuff. I didn’t finish the 50,000-word goal, but I got halfway. My final count was 25,451 words. I am not halfway through the story, though. I know that I have a lot of editing and writing still ahead of me. It is a great start, though. I didn’t write every day. In fact, I wrote about every other day because of my schedule.
There was a bit where I didn’t even write every other day. That was because of overdoing it the first week. I then got in a rhythm of writing and painting that worked for me. November was a wonderful month for me.
One Thing I learned
Doing NaNoWriMo also showed me that at least one lesson I keep hearing holds true. I heard a few authors say to read and review what you wrote the day before at the beginning of your session. I didn’t do that for most of the month and now I’m lost. The story seems to be dying. There is a fix though, I can go back to what I already wrote. As I’m reading it, I can edit it and build on what I have. I have done that a couple of times now and when I do I have added a bunch more words.
Right now the Royal Memories series is just a bunch of bones and bone fragments on a table. By going back and reviewing, I can find more bone fragments in the mess and make them into actual bones. My next few drafts can focus on putting the meat and skin on the bones.
I am glad that I attempted to write an entire book in a month. I found that I could do more than I thought I would be able to and may even get the first book in this series done before I was expecting.
Pictures from the Month.
I used dice to decide on a few things and make the story more interesting. Most of the time it caused the characters to have difficulties with what they were attempting to do. I also had a few fight scenes, which the dice made more interesting. Using the dice also me write quicker, because if I got stuck I was able to roll a die to get unstuck.
When I got to 10,000 words I wrote an Instagram post. I was proud of myself to reach one of the first big milestones. I was planning on taking other pictures at 20,000 and 25,000 words, but that didn’t happen.
Want More?
If you would like to keep more up to date with what I am doing I am on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also read about my life in my series God Shows Up or in the category “Life.”