It is officially December 1st, which means that National Novel Writing Month 2011 is over. It’s both quite sad and refreshing at the same time to know that we have an entire year to wait until next NaNo.
This year was my first year participating in it and I must tell you how much I truly enjoyed it.
At first, I felt like the goal would be impossible. I mean, come on, 50,000 words in a month, that’s insane! But once NaNo officially started, I dove right into writing and felt that it would be a lot easier than I thought.
That feeling of “easy” faded quickly too as some days I just did not feel like writing. I did go days without writing, mostly on the weekends, and sometimes I felt like I was terribly behind. And only once did I ever feel like giving up and scraping everything I had just written. But luckily, that misery passed and I shook that thought out of my head and continued on.
On November 28, with two days left to spare, I reached the 50K word goal. I don’t think I have ever felt so exhilarated in all of my life! The feeling of completing what I thought in the beginning was an impossible mission, left me with the thought that I could complete anything!
I think that the feeling you get when you realize how many words you actually wrote in a month (whether you reached the 50K or not), is the true meaning of NaNo; it’s all about that end sensation and realization that you actually completed something you worked so hard for.
However, I don’t think I could have ever gotten to the end with out my fabulous Facebook NaNo Support Group! I did not find much help through the NaNo forums on the NaNo website, nor through the “writing buddy” option. Instead, it was a small Facebook group of 159 NaNo-ers where I found the bulk of my motivation and inspiration. And it’s the fact that we’re now creating a Critique/Editing group which is still helping me to write and complete my novel.
So for the first year of my NaNo experience, I must say that it was quite rewarding and worth it. I will definitely be donating and I suggest that all of you who participated should donate as well. Even $10 can help!
According to the NaNo website there was a collective NaNo 2011 word count of:
Not bad, NaNo-ers, not bad at all.
So let’s welcome December, and say goodbye to Novemeber and National Novel Writing Month.
And let’s promise each other that we will continue to write even now that NaNo has come and went.
Happy December, All!
🙂