Mini-NaNoWriMo WrapUp

The primary goal was to write 25,000 words in April. My secondary goals were to work steadily on one project, to not sacrifice the other activities that I like to do, and to develop regular writing habits.

Goal one: 25,000 words. I can't say whether or not I actually accomplished this. I worked diligently at my computer for about 10 days, but then I developed an aversion to keyboards and wordcounts. The internet was a distraction, MS Word reminded me of dreary school assignments, and the word quota felt burdensome. So I changed to pen and paper. I felt better. I decided to forget about the word quota and focus on time quotas. I would promise to work for at least 20 minutes per night, and once I overcame the hurdle of sitting down, I usually worked longer.

I could count how many words I averaged per handwritten page, then count the pages. But sometimes my handwriting is large and sometimes it's small. And sometimes I wrote on scraps of paper at work and I'm not sure that I can find them all.

Goal two: Work on one project. I cast aside this goal mid-month. I worked on my new project until I got stuck. Then I started a second project. Then I felt inspired to revise the November 2008 novel, which involved mostly word deletion and scene shuffling rather than new creation (another reason why I cannot quantify my word count well). Then I figured out how to get unstuck from project one and returned to it.

The rotation strategy worked well to avoid writers' block and boredom. But I was kind of hoping to slave steadily away at one treasured work. I suppose that this wish may not be a realistic way of working for me.

Goal three: Write regularly while maintaining other activities. Goal achieved. I continued to exercise, cook, read voraciously, update my Facebook status, sleep 8 hours nightly, sort of keep up with my Google Reader, and play with Trixie. I mostly abandoned television (except for watching at the gym) and blogging.

Goal four: Establish regular writing habits. Accomplished. It was tough to find a set time of day with my irregular work schedule. There were times when I needed to cut the writing time short for the sake of cooking a fussy dinner or needing to finish a book before a library due date, but for the most part I wrote a little something every day.

I wrote realism this time. No sci-fi or fantasy. Just people and trouble. I liked my projects. There is some hope for their futures.