The End of NaNoWriMo

Yesterday marked the end of NaNoWriMo. No, I did not meet my word challenge, but I don't feel like I failed, either. My NaNoWriMo journey ended with 13,278 words written (out of 50,000) - and not one of them were nonsense words to fill the page (although at one point I stopped using contractions).

Earlier, I posted what NaNoWriMo was teaching me (click here). Now that I've completed the project, I still agree with what I wrote, but I've learned other things as well.

To begin with, I enjoyed writing my piece of fiction. Each day, as I wrote, I could see the story coming together. I could see my flaws (characters need to be more dimensional, use more descriptions of places, and so on). Finally, I realized I can actually write a novel, slowly.

At one point I finally decided to have fun with the novel and not take it so seriously. After all, it was just my first draft. I can always edit - later. Which is what I'll do at some point in the near future (right now I want to focus on a different writing project).

All in all, I enjoyed the challenge and the learning process. I may do this again next year, I may not. It depends on what is happening in my life at the time. But, yet again, this challenge proved to me that I want to write.