participate in and complete NaNoWriMo 2007

November is now over for the year, and with it NaNoWriMo.

My counts for the final day:

Minimum: 50,000
My goal: 60,000
Actual: 65,233

I wrote for just under 22 hours over the thirty days, for an average of forty-four minutes a day, and an average WPM of 49.66.

Most words written in one day: 3,567 (my only 3000+ day)
Most time spent in one day: 1 hour (five times)
Quickest writing day: 39 minutes (four times)
Fastest WPM: 59.45
Slowest WPM: 36.55 (literally falling asleep at the keyboard)
Days with less than 2,000 words: 4
Days with zero words: 1
Average words per day: 2,175
Length relative to my previous longest: 4.90 times.
Days I enjoyed myself: Maybe three?
Days I regretted doing this: Zero.

I’m proud of myself for getting through this, and even prouder that I managed to keep writing through to the end of the month when I didn’t have to. I feel great.

Minimum: 46,676
My goal: 56,000
Actual: 59,439

We had a federal election on the weekend, and I missed quota that day (wrote about 60%). The next day I wrote nothing as I worked on getting my school work finished for assessment the day after. Those were the first two days I’d fallen behind since the first two days of November, but other than that I managed to keep the writing up.

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stay motivated once I hit the 50k and essentially won, but so far I’ve managed to stick with the spirit of the month and keep writing my way to my goal of 60,000 words and onward to a completed novel.

I think I’m enjoying it a little more each day, and I feel like the novel gets a little better each day. I’m confident that on a fundamental level it’s derivative and unpublishable, but I’m glad that despite that each day it gets closer and closer to being the best novel it could be.

As of day 23 I made it to 50,000 words, making me a winner by NaNoWriMo standards. I completed the 50,000 words in about seventeen hours of writing time, maintaining an average of 48.4 wpm. I never wrote for more than an hour in a day (mostly I wrote from about 11pm-11:45pm), and from day three onwards (it took me two days to pick up momentum) I never wrote less than two thousand words. This minimum / maximum approach allowed me to keep up momentum.

This is the fifth year I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo and the first year I have completed it – or even come close actually.

Previous years efforts:

1st year (2003): 13,299
2nd year (2004): 4,719
3rd year (2005): 1,948
4th year (2006): 19 (yes, nineteen words)

So I must say, I’m pretty damn proud of myself for making it, and early no less. Fair to say it’s downright unprecedented.

My stated goal has been 2,000 words per day, which I’d like to try and keep up until the end of the month – NaNoWriMo is hardly about getting to 50,000 words and stopping cold afterall.

I haven’t enjoyed this experience, and I think my writing has been appallingly bad. But it has been a useful learning experience. I’ve never written anything this long before, and I am definitely evolving a process for tackling future novel-length projects. If I can motivate myself to continue with this particular book, I’ll get a lot out of the editing and drafting process that would be necessary (though it will never be publishable).

While I can’t say I’ve enjoyed the experience, it was something very important that I had to do and I’ve got no regrets. Previous years of NaNoWriMo have been a major source of depression for me, and to finally conquer it is a relief. Will I do NaNoWriMo again? I might, but I wouldn’t count on it.

But to have written a first novel, however bad it is, is a wonderful thing, and that I recommend wholeheartedly!

Minimum: 35,007
My goal: 42,000
Actual: 46,359

Picked my pace up to closer to 48wpm. I’ve pretty much been getting faster and faster each day, and obviously I’m very much on track to complete.

I’m still not enjoying the process or the outcome, but I’ve at least got to the point where I can see that with a heavy edit and re-write this could be a passable novel. Not good, but no longer Bulwer-Lytton prize worthy.

I wish that I could really make an excuse for not doing this and I kinda can with my computer being down and in the shop for the first days of the month. So this is farewell NaNoWriMo. I am still writing my novel though.

Progress is on much the same trajectory as last week.

Minimum: 23,338
My goal: 28,000
Actual: 30,441

Still succeeding, still bored, averaging about 47 wpm. The boredom could yet kill this thing, but I’m very much on track to complete.

So far things are going very well.

Minimum: 11,669
My goal: 14,000
Actual: 14,805

There are two big surprises, one is that I’m succeeding admirably, the other is that I’m more or less hating every minute of it. On the plus side I’ve only spent about five and a half hours actually writing. I’m averaging about 46wpm, which I think is pretty good for actual writing (as opposed to straight data entry).

This is a really important personal goal for me, because I want to get writing a crappy first novel out of my system. But the book that is emerging is atrocious, and I’m not enjoying the process. On one level I’m glad to push on, but I’ll be even more glad when it’s over.

If I can keep this pace up until the end I will be proud of myself. Heck, I’m proud of myself for getting this far.

No typing. Nothing since the 31st. I had to send it to Apple. I am supposed to get the computer back on the 7th. Isn’t that how life is? Really messes you up when you are on an upswing. At least I have the work computer to fiddle around on.

I finally know what I am going to write about, but I am going to keep it secret. In preparation, I have written the first line of my novel. I have also titled my chapters, but that is neither here nor there.

I received an email from the regional admin about the kickoff party and a write-in at one of those trendy coffee houses. I am not really down with the whole communal writing thing, so I am pretty sure that I will skip that. Just glad that I am participating.

November is rarely a well-timed month for NaNoWriMo and me, and I doubt I will complete NaNoWriMo this year. But it’s about the attempt as much as anything else, so I will try.