A week and a half late...

10 Things I learned from NaNoWriMo:

1.) Timed Word-Wars do work.

2.) Starting to read an obsession-inducing book series the day before NaNo starts really won't help your wordcount.

3.) No matter what anybody says, quality is better than quantity.

4.) Real life will always get in the way. Yes, it will.

5.) It really is possible to miss an entire month's worth of TV and live. So long as you have TiVo.

6.) The people writing allows you to meet will surprise you.

7.) The things your characters will do when you're wholly submerged in their world for long periods of time will surprise (and delight) you even more.

8.) Sometimes having a 10+ hour soundtrack to your WIP really does help.

9.) Even if you don't "win," knowing that you didn't let a single "zero-word-count" day go by is very satisfying.

And last but definitely not least:

10.) Having a CP who knows you and your writing almost as well as you do is priceless.


So yes, as you can probably guess, I did NOT write 50,000 words as was the overall goal. In fact I didn't quite manage to break 30,000, so my average was less than 1000 words per day. I had a couple fantastic days, at 2800 and 3000some words. Most days I was glad to break 1000, though, and a few days (reading Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series) I barely got 300 words down. It was quite an experience, though, and in fact I've decided to sign up for NaNoWriYe, which is a similar, year-long challenge, where you pick your own goal. I've signed up for 200K, which may be a little low, but as I plan on finishing my Fantasy novel, hopefully I'll be needing a big chunk of the year for edits and rewrites. ;)