Hello everyone.
Welcome to life after NaNoWriMo. I think you’ll find its very similar to life during NaNoWriMo.
Although the writing competition is over, I still have a manuscript to finish. I feel that I made it approximately halfway through the manuscript. With that in mind, my new goal is to complete the first draft before the new year begins.
I’ve found it easier to write post-NaNoWriMo. During November, part of my attention was focused on tracking my word count to see if I could finally hit the 50,000 goal (better luck next year). I always set out to actually win the competition, but never expect to. Regardless, it has been nice no longer feeling the need to be preoccupied with how lengthy my manuscript has gotten while I’m in the middle of writing it.
I think the word count also weighed on me because of where I felt I was at in the story. On average, a published book clocks in at around 70-80,000 words. I had surpassed the 40,000 word mark, but was in the early stages of part 3 of a 5 part story. While I know from my outline that parts 4 and 5 are the shorter sections of the story, as the plot will have ramped up as it comes to its thrilling climax, because I was tracking my word count throughout, I couldn’t help feeling that I was not only behind where I wanted to be in my writing, but that the pacing also wasn’t to the quality that I expect out of my stories.
The latter may still be something that I need to address in later drafts. That being said, the constant reminder was not helping.
It’s been nice being able to just enjoy the process of writing. It has made me reconsider whether to wait until NaNoWriMo to write my future manuscripts. I do enjoy the writing competition, but I don’t want anything that would serve as a distraction to the books I plan on publishing. I want nothing to take away from the focus of storytelling, because I want to deliver the best experience I can to the reader. I don’t necessarily want to abandon participating in NaNoWriMo, but I may want to limit my involvement to interesting concepts and ideas that I’d like to explore, not future manuscripts that I have plans to publish.
Now that the writing competition is over, and I’ve been able to focus all my attention solely on my writing, I’ve found my writing has returned to its regular pace. I also feel that the quality has improved, although this could be part of a continuing process that’s been evolving throughout the competition. I definitely have gotten a stronger sense of the characters and the tone of the story as I’ve gone along, which is common for me whenever I write a new book. I still have a ways to go, but I feel confident the further I go, especially now that I’ve gone beyond the halfway point of the first draft.
Now it’s all about finishing the initial draft of the manuscript, and crafting it to be the best possible version it can be. That will still take some work, but I feel that I’m on the right track.
Until next time.