Newbie to NaNoWriMo

I didn’t start the NaNoWriMo challenge until the third day.  I first considered participating in the challenge last summer. I sat down and tried to write 1600 words about a potential character in a single sitting. I wanted to see what it looked like and how long it took me. Writing at least 1600 words a day was the only way I  thought I could achieve the goal of completing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I don’t have too much fear of facing a blank page so I shamelessly barfed a character up onto the page. It took a good 90 minutes for me to write 1600 words in a fairly coherent manner. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the character or my writing but I figured that part of the experience of writing a novel in 30 days was about trusting yourself and just going for it. I didn’t think about it again until the beginning of October. I never really decided not to do the challenge but I never made a firm commitment to myself either. After giving presentations at school on the first two days of November, exhausted and relieved, I went to the NaNoWriMo site and signed up. I didn't begin putting words on paper until the next day. I started my writing by thinking about a character I liked enough to write a lot about. From the character I determined my audience and purpose. My novel is geared toward a YA audience but also boomer parents who might like YA too. It is set in the 1970’s which might even qualify as historical fiction. Seriously, I’m not even sure.

After 12,000 words, I have begun to adore my characters. And for me, this is a absolute shock. I never expected this to happen. I think about them before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning to write before I go to school. My process for cranking out this novel is very different from writing a blog post. But all those weeks of writing SOL’s and playing with snapshots, dialogue, and explode-a-moments has helped me tremendously. And blogging and sharing with the TWT community has given me confidence. I’m looking forward to seeing if I end up completing this novel in 30 days and what will happen after that. Whatever happens, I’m good with it. For me, it is more about traveling than arriving.

Yes, this is a messy plan but at least I have one, sort of. :)

My list of ideas for chapters or scenes for my nano novel. Just
 saying that I'm writing a novel cracks me up. It feels good
just to try!