December 2013 - Update

December 2013 – Update

You will be happy to know, I was able to complete NANO this year.  However, it was quite the struggle.  I started out writing a romance type of story.  It was going along all right the first week.  The second week, I decided I wasn’t enjoying my Main Character.  By the beginning of the third week, I didn’t like my main character or my main guy character at all.  I realized I was just going with the motions and putting down a story and words.  The writing was horrible, as I didn’t care anymore.  I finished the story out on the 21^st, but it only came to 41,990 words.  I didn’t know what to do, as I didn’t want to waste anymore of my time on that crappy book!  Yes, I hated it that much. 

So I read a bit of the rules for Nano and decided to begin a new novel to tack onto the crap one.  But I didn’t start it right away.  I was a bit bummed about how the first story came out and procrastinated.  There is definitely something to be said for connecting with your characters in order to have a good book.  So, I put off beginning.  Then Thanksgiving hit and I didn’t have to time to write.  Finally, the last day of Nano hit and I was still 8,000+ behind and only one day to do it. 

I whined a bit to my family about failing Nano.  I have to say I was a bit surprised by their response.  They said, to finish dinner, then go and write. Do what I am always telling other writers to:  Sit your butt down and just do it.  So, at 7:00 p.m. I sat down in my lovely quiet office, turned on a bit of Fleetwood Mac, and began a new story.  I wrote for an hour, then took a break.  Sometimes it was just to clear my brain a bit, sometimes it was to rock a small baby to gain a moment of peace, and sometimes it was just to snatch a snack or take a hug from my Seren.  At 11:00 p.m. I had 800 more words to go.  My fingers were flying.  The story was spewing from my brain in a flood.  It was great.

At 11:30, I uploaded what I had:  The first crap novel of about 42,000 and the new pretty good start and decent story of 8,000 all totaling 52,020 words.  I made it and I got a banner to prove it.

I am pretty excited about my new story.  Of course after Nano, I didn’t feel like writing at all, so it has stayed set at 8,000+ but I am very happy with this one.  I will get back to it very soon.  I think I deserve a bit of a break, so for the rest of December I will be reading.  I have a load of ebooks on my Kindle that need my attention. 

What will I do with my crap novel?  Trash can it I think.  I will hold it for a while to see if I change my mind, or if I think I can salvage it somehow.  I think Romance just isn’t for me.  There are good moments in it, but all in all, it sucks.

Ctny