Yay! I'm done! My NaNoWriMo novel is finished. Now before you get green faced, let me explain that this is a middle grade novel, which means that 50,000 words is a tad long. Yes, there are MG books that are that long-and longer, but this one won't be. That doesn't mean there won't be more words to add--there will be as I fine tune my research (questions always pop up about tiny details that you need to have answered). And as I revise, I'll find sections that need more description or clarification.
And before you think thoughts of me being an over-achiever because I finished well before time (this is such a crazy month- WHO picked November? Wouldn't the doldrums of January have been better? Or the emptiness of February? The isolation of March?) Let me tell you that my novel currently stands at 28,741 words.
Don't scream that I'm cheating- I've worked on a short story (which adds another 4,272 words to my count because hey, it's writing and I had to get it in under deadline and I'm counting it), kept up (pretty much) with my blog posts, and dabbled in a few other things that didn't contribute to my word count. (I didn't add Facebook or Twitter chatter, emails, or texts, even if writing related either.) All that might total up to 50,000.
The purposed of National Novel Writing Month is to write that novel--which I have done so I have achieved the goal. This is an historical fiction and I see it as a two year project. More research, revisions, and writing are required before I even breathe a word to my agent. Last year's NaNo project, Lethal Dose, is currently making submission rounds, and a middle grade project I finished just prior to starting NaNoWriMo 2014 is with a critique group. I have a lot of work to do.
But that's another facet of NaNoWriMo; to get you used to writing/working consistently. No one does the same amount every day, but to write everyday (okay, I slacked off when I was sick, but there were days I wrote double the guideline of 1,700 words), I have achieved this.
So I'm calling this a win: novel drafted and finished, wrote almost every day.
How is your NaNo journey going?
Char
