What I've learned through Nanowrimo

This year I did nanowrimo.

Well I actually really did it.

I didn't complete 50,000 words to have a novel written but I have about 12,000 done. Which, to be honest and fair is 12,000 more words than I would have had done if I hadn't signed up for it.
This year was different.

More often I would go into nanowrimo as a goose to my ongoing project. This year I'm shopping the project that was ongoing last year to agents.  (Fingers crossed!)

This year I started a new project on November 1. 27 days later I have 12,000 words done.
More important I have learned about myself as a writer and a little bit as a person, and a little bit as a mom.

I am not a "pantser"

I went to the Writers Digest Conference this year. I learned about pantsers--people who write their novel by the seat of their pants. I thought--hey, maybe I can do that. Before with the novels and screenplays I have written I would write a sketchy outline, and fill more things in as I went. Thinking of it as a bus line. Sometimes I'd get off and do a bit of exploring but at least I knew which bus line would get me from here to there.
So I was going to write without this safety net. I was going to write by the seat of my pants.

Well that didn't happen. If I realized when I sat down that I wanted to get character A to Point A, the session went well. If I didn't it was like my characters looked at me and said "Hey, you created me, you asshole, you figure this shit out." I didn't. What I have been doing with my writing time today and what I will be doing with my writing time this week is write a goddamn outline.

The only person I'm competing with is myself. 

My niece told me she was doing Nanowrimo. She might have even finished it. Who knows but I kept thinking, hey, I'm older and I've had stuff published professionally. Why is she doing this? How come I'm not doing better?

Then I hit myself over the head. I'm not competing with her. I'm writing my novel. She's writing hers. She's 29, I'm 46 which leads me to...

Writing while being a mom is hard

I knew this, but this time it was brought home to me by my daughter who would go off and play by herself for a while but the minute I started to write she wanted my undivided attention. This led to

My best ideas came when my head hit the pillow. 

This required me to sigh and debate if I wanted to grab my cell phone and speak the ideas or get up and write way into the morning.


What comes next:

Write an outline.
Make my world building shine.

Finish by March 15, 2018.

Here goes!