What I Learned During NaNoWriMo 2013

NaNoWriMo web badge of 2013

    NaNoWriMo is always a wonderful and stressful challenge.  I came in 516 words short of 50k this time.  I was shooting for 60k, so I obviously missed that, but I feel absolutely great with what I did get down.  Last week I talked about NaNoWriMo being a great time to learn about yourself and your writing process.  That does not count for only the first time you do the challenge.  Each time I do NaNoWriMo it is a new experience.  I learn several things about myself and my project this month.

    The first lesson for me is that I need to build a more regular writing habit.  I am already writing everyday.  However, I might benefit from more scheduling of when and what I am writing during a given time block.  I'd like to experiment with this over the next few months.

    I also identified some of the things that particularly distracted me.  For example Pinterest.  I can get so lost on Pinterest.  I look up at the time and an hour and a half has passed.  Twitter was also distracting.  There were several other topics I just had to avoid, both as videos and as blog posts & articles, or I just couldn't tear myself away.  Do you know what particularly distracts you?

    I also relearned the importance of taking breaks.  Not just breaks from writing to do other things, but breaks from all sorts of work.  There were a few times I couldn't write because my brain had fried and I just couldn't process anything.

    The project I worked on this past month was a project I have been working on for some time.  I realized that I can no longer work on this story in the NaNoWriMo style.  I no longer feel like writing at such a fast pace will benefit the project.  I will need to take more time with this story and start sharpening the plot and setting.

    These are the lessons I learned about my writing this month.  I haven't decided precisely what to do for all of them yet, I feel it is good to have them in writing though.  Now I will not forget them and I can review them. What did you learn during NaNoWriMo?  Let me know in the comments.  Or at least write them down for your own reference.  

Image from The Graphics Fairy

Writing Response

    The last haiku prompt for November was agreeable vacillation.  Here is my response.

hesitation, doubt

no stillness in that moment

asserting to sway

Writing Exercise

    This week write a poem (any style) about dance.