NaNo 2012 Highlights

NaNoWriMo 2012 has come to its end. That mad clicking of typewriters has quieted, those overused mugs of coffee have finally found their way to the dishwasher while their users have found their way to bed, the world of the writers his calmed.

…Or has it?

I think instead, writers are celebrating their great achievements of this fantastic month, basking atop that glorious mountain of satisfaction all us participants have been climbing this month. And what a sight it is from up here!

As this month closes, I thought I would give an overview of the goings-on of my 2012 NaNo.

On October 31st, I excitedly stayed up to begin writing when midnight hit. I stayed awake until 2, happily tap tapping away on my keyboard, finally beginning to write this story that was beckoning me all the month of October. I got 2k words written that night before sleep seized me in its grip.

The first two days of NaNo were a little bumpy due to some stuff going on those days, but I was determined to get a fair amount of words written. Tallying up with the 2k I wrote that night, I ended the first day with 8,108 words. The second day I just barely managed to squeeze in 4,307 words.

After those first two days, it became much easier as life settled a bit and I got into the swing of things. For the first week of NaNo, I always like to go a bit (okay, maybe more than a bit) insane and then settle for the rest of the month. As a result, I managed to reach that 50k words on the 10th.

Once I reached that point, I did begin to settle a little on the writing. Though, getting pretty obsessive over these things, I continued writing every day. It was around this time that I decided I want to make it to 100k. I had the last two years, so why not again this year? To do this though, I was going to have to keep myself going strong. Thus I set out a goal to attempt writing 3k a day, although 2k would be acceptable if 3k could not be reached on certain days. I kept to this plan fairly well.

Last year’s NaNo I decided I wanted to write at least 2k every single day of November and just to see if I could actually do it. And I did, which was exciting, but I figured I would never do that again because it proved to be a pretty stressful task. But then this year happened, and it was sometime around halfway through the month I was like, "You know what...WHY NOT!" Thus far I had managed to write every single day of the month, and it was already half done. So sure. Let’s do it!

I am ecstatic to say I actually achieved my goal!!

My NaNo Calendar I made for this year naming how many words I wrote each day
Click for Larger View

Today I wrote 2,435 words, ending my NaNo of 2012 experience with 115,005 words.

What really shocked me about this NaNo is how much I managed to get written amidst all the busyness of life. Because life has just been a good deal busier this November than it was my last two, and I really did not even think I'd make it to 100k. My first NaNo, I ended with 111,500 words and I thought I would NEVER beat that. I kind of went insane on my first NaNo. But then this year, the year I thought I would not do too good at all, I actually passed my word count from my first one. It was a very pleasant surprise!

For the majority of the month, other than the first two days, I really did not have too much trouble trekking onward, to which I am so thankful for. My characters eluded me often, my story went places that surprised me, I even had one crazy moment where I almost threw out my outline just because other ideas jumped in my head (I then realized that would be insane and completely mess up the whole rest of this book series, but I think all us writers have those moments sometimes). But these are all the reasons I love writing. It really is an adventure. Sometimes its hard, sometimes you want to give up, sometimes you’re just too confused to know what on earth you want, but, even amidst all this, it’s exciting and wondrous and just an all around amazing adventure.

That was what NaNo 2012 was for me. I was taken on an adventure that I would not have given up for the world.

The adventure isn’t over yet! Not this one anyway. My novel still has quite a bit to be written. (About a whole other 50k actually… >.>) My goal is to finish it by New Year’s, so more and more writing shall ensue through December.

Regardless, my 3rd NaNo is over and I had an absolutely fantastic time!!

Favorite Snippet of the Month-

Irevik began traipsing forward, greatly anticipating finding some animal for his dinner. Riana turned and held up a hand to stop him. "Please stay here, Irevik. I'm afraid you're just too big and loud. Someone might discover we're here. I'll try my best to gather us all enough dinner, all right?"

The dragon seemed hesitant at first but eventually nodded his large head politely.

Riana smiled and gave him a pat. "I'll be back soon."

Eldoren frowned as she disappeared beyond the trees. So why is she so polite to you?

Irevik tossed his head, letting out a haughty huff.

Oh, you're not all that handsome, you big oaf. His breath was taken from him when Irevik suddenly pounced on him. Eldoren dropped to his back while Irevik held him down with one of his foreclaws and began licking him with his long, forked tongue.

"Stop! Stop!" Eldoren cried out, flailing his hands up in front of him in a futile attempt to deter the dragon. "You ridiculous dragon, get off me!" Despite his protests, his words came out in half chuckles. Irevik was probably the only one in the world who knew how ticklish he was, and the dragon made a point to take advantage of this whenever he could. "Come on now. Get off!"

Irevik eventually pulled away, vibrating with laughter. As Eldoren sat up, frowning deeply as he wiped off his very dragon saliva covered face, he heard a quiet, shaky rumbling to his left. Looking over, he was surprised to find Razel watching them. Her body shook lightly, and this noise came from her own throat as she chuckled at them. Her dragon laughter grew louder when Eldoren stuck his tongue out at her. He looked over at Irevik and found his dragon winking at the female dragon. He rolled his eyes. Irevik was the only dragon he knew in all the world that winked.