Some final NaNoWriMo 2007 thoughts
Dec. 2nd, 2007 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieSo November is over. The sprint called National Novel Writing Month is also over. I "won", which is to say that I wrote at least 50,000 words in the month of November, and I survived, which is to say I'm physically still alive, and mentally I'm not noticeably any more nuts than I was to start with (or at least so I think).
Some interesting NaNo stats for me:
The story isn't done, and although I didn't write anything yesterday (among other things, yesterday was the annual Gingerbread party), I'm going to sit down and work on it some more as soon as I finish this post. I do intend to finish the story, hopefully by the end of January if not sooner.
External support for this project was mixed.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fisherbear was very supportive, but as he also works full-time and had the evil cold twice during the month of November, he wasn't able to be as actively supportive in picking up some of the keep-the-household-going slack as I know he wanted to be (or, to be truthful, as much as I had hoped he would). Several of my family members were quite vocal in their disapproval of the idea, one going so far as to tell me directly that I'd be much better off concentrating my energies on other, more "worthwhile" areas. As for my friends, the vast majority were indifferent to the project, but those who expressed an opinion were almost universally supportive and in favor of the idea.
I wasn't terribly surprised by the overwhelming "meh" from the rest of the universe. Writing is one of those internal pursuits that most people neither know about nor care about, and those who don't do it don't really understand it. I've known for a lot of years that if you're not writing for yourself - if the internal motivation to do it isn't sufficient for you, if you need some kind of external validation or applause - then you're never going to succeed at it, because the rest of the world isn't going to supply that motivation. The only regular support you can realistically hope for from the universe at large is to give you a deadline - which to be honest is a handy and useful thing. There's nothing like a little deadline pressure to keep you going. But it by and of itself isn't going to be enough to make you succeed. Like everything else, at the end of the day it all comes down to you.
As for me, obviously I supported the idea, or I wouldn't have done it. And I'm proud of having done it, of having made the arbitrary goal of 50,000 words in the month in order to "win". It's good to get some proof that I really can accomplish a goal I put my mind to, however random that goal might appear to others. It's good to stretch those creative muscles and once again experience the joy of creating a world out of the random ether that exists between my ears. It's fun being suprised by my own characters. I am more than slightly annoyed that I didn't manage to finish the story I'm telling, but that will happen eventually (or so I hope). And maybe, just maybe, by the time I'm done writing and editing and polishing and revising and putting the finishing touches on the story, there might be something there worth reading. Maybe.
So was it worth doing? It's an interesting question.
I had to put an awful lot of my life on hold during November in order to succeed at this. My housekeeping, never stellar, sunk to new depths. I'm way behind on holiday shopping and end-of-year tasks. I failed to check my non-work email for weeks on end, and missed out on at least one friend-in-crisis mail to an e-distribution group that I stopped visiting during the last few weeks. And there's no denying that I didn't get as much sleep as I might have otherwise, and that my stress level went up several notches at various points during the month thanks in part to the fact that I had committed to this.
On the other hand, I have a very real sense of accomplishment. I have proof that I can do what I set out to do, if I just work hard enough at it (which isn't something to sneeze at). I have 60,000-plus words on the page, not counting a lot more in my notes file. I have a story that interests me. I have at least two people interested in reading this thing when I finish it. I've had a lot of fun bouncing ideas off ofmonkeybard and fisherbear. I've gotten to spend more time with monkeybard than I probably would have otherwise. And I have been able to purge non-story-related stress in losing myself in writing, so I'm probably zero-balanced out on the stress-level scale, anyway. And I've had fun.
So yes, all in all I think it was worth it. But ask me that question again sometime in October of next year, and we'll see.
Some interesting NaNo stats for me:
- Final word count for November: 60,173
- Average words per day: 2,006
- Most words per day: 4,294
- Fewest words per day: 625
- Best day of the week by word average: Sundays (averaged 3,151 words)
- Worst day of the week by word average: Tuesdays (averaged 1,293 words)
- Number of days I didn't make my daily "goal" of 1,667: 9, but 3 of those were after I'd already passed 50,000
- Number of days I didn't write anything at all on the NaNovel: zero
The story isn't done, and although I didn't write anything yesterday (among other things, yesterday was the annual Gingerbread party), I'm going to sit down and work on it some more as soon as I finish this post. I do intend to finish the story, hopefully by the end of January if not sooner.
External support for this project was mixed.
fisherbear was very supportive, but as he also works full-time and had the evil cold twice during the month of November, he wasn't able to be as actively supportive in picking up some of the keep-the-household-going slack as I know he wanted to be (or, to be truthful, as much as I had hoped he would). Several of my family members were quite vocal in their disapproval of the idea, one going so far as to tell me directly that I'd be much better off concentrating my energies on other, more "worthwhile" areas. As for my friends, the vast majority were indifferent to the project, but those who expressed an opinion were almost universally supportive and in favor of the idea.I wasn't terribly surprised by the overwhelming "meh" from the rest of the universe. Writing is one of those internal pursuits that most people neither know about nor care about, and those who don't do it don't really understand it. I've known for a lot of years that if you're not writing for yourself - if the internal motivation to do it isn't sufficient for you, if you need some kind of external validation or applause - then you're never going to succeed at it, because the rest of the world isn't going to supply that motivation. The only regular support you can realistically hope for from the universe at large is to give you a deadline - which to be honest is a handy and useful thing. There's nothing like a little deadline pressure to keep you going. But it by and of itself isn't going to be enough to make you succeed. Like everything else, at the end of the day it all comes down to you.
As for me, obviously I supported the idea, or I wouldn't have done it. And I'm proud of having done it, of having made the arbitrary goal of 50,000 words in the month in order to "win". It's good to get some proof that I really can accomplish a goal I put my mind to, however random that goal might appear to others. It's good to stretch those creative muscles and once again experience the joy of creating a world out of the random ether that exists between my ears. It's fun being suprised by my own characters. I am more than slightly annoyed that I didn't manage to finish the story I'm telling, but that will happen eventually (or so I hope). And maybe, just maybe, by the time I'm done writing and editing and polishing and revising and putting the finishing touches on the story, there might be something there worth reading. Maybe.
So was it worth doing? It's an interesting question.
I had to put an awful lot of my life on hold during November in order to succeed at this. My housekeeping, never stellar, sunk to new depths. I'm way behind on holiday shopping and end-of-year tasks. I failed to check my non-work email for weeks on end, and missed out on at least one friend-in-crisis mail to an e-distribution group that I stopped visiting during the last few weeks. And there's no denying that I didn't get as much sleep as I might have otherwise, and that my stress level went up several notches at various points during the month thanks in part to the fact that I had committed to this.
On the other hand, I have a very real sense of accomplishment. I have proof that I can do what I set out to do, if I just work hard enough at it (which isn't something to sneeze at). I have 60,000-plus words on the page, not counting a lot more in my notes file. I have a story that interests me. I have at least two people interested in reading this thing when I finish it. I've had a lot of fun bouncing ideas off of
monkeybard and fisherbear. I've gotten to spend more time with monkeybard than I probably would have otherwise. And I have been able to purge non-story-related stress in losing myself in writing, so I'm probably zero-balanced out on the stress-level scale, anyway. And I've had fun.So yes, all in all I think it was worth it. But ask me that question again sometime in October of next year, and we'll see.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-03 04:43 am (UTC)Aw, man...I missed Rankin-Bass Gingerbread day?! Rats. Hope everyone had fun. Were there any really cool houses this year?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 06:40 pm (UTC)We missed you at gingerbread!!! Oh well...there should be pictures forthcoming.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 08:57 pm (UTC)Can't wait for the pics of gingerbread!! :D
no subject
Date: 2007-12-04 06:44 pm (UTC)You know what I want to say, so I'll save myself the trouble of typing it and say simply ::grr!::.
I am more than slightly annoyed that I didn't manage to finish the story I'm telling, but that will happen eventually (or so I hope).
I promise to finish mine if you promise to finish yours. Methinks you have the easier task because you at least know what the hell yours is about. ;-P
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 06:37 pm (UTC)Deal. And since we both know the value of deadline pressure, shall we consider setting a date for completion - say sometime by the end of Januaryish? Let's discuss. :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 08:04 pm (UTC)I was thinking that, too. Or maybe February 1 because it's a Friday and we can go for celebratory drinks that night (like we didn't get to do for Nov.).
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 09:25 pm (UTC)