Well, just like that, NaNoWriMo 2024 is done. I know I say this every year, but this year was definitely a unique one, and I’m going to tell you why.
Starting out, I normally have my outline for my project done when I start NaNoWriMo. This year, however, I did not, since the outline for the novel I’m currently working on is going to be huge, to the point where I’m considering splitting it into two novels. So, I started working on NaNo with an incomplete outline. It was complete enough that I knew I could get through NaNo, but now I’m stuck wondering if I should work on the outline or keep writing chapters. I wouldn’t recommend doing NaNo this way, but I’m just happy that I was able to complete it at all.
Speaking of completing it, I did hit 50,000 words in the month of November, which is my third year in a row that I’ve done that. However, this was the first year that I didn’t hit par (1,667 words a day) every day, but that’s because I was away for about a week the first week of November, and shockingly, writing wasn’t my top priority. Not hitting par at the beginning of the month meant that I had about two weeks where I was writing over two thousand words a day as I tried to catch up. I even had one day where it was over four thousand, which isn’t relevant, but I’m proud of it and wanted to share.
During NaNo, you’ll usually find me doing my writing as a writing sprint, and this year was no different. Most evenings, I’d pop my headphones and listen to music while trying to get to my writing goal. One specific moment of this happening that comes to mind is the day that I wrote basically the entire section of my word count listening to one song. I’m not going to lie, it was a solid forty five minutes of just one song. If you’re curious, it was “Let Me Drown” by Orville Peck, since apparently gay country music causes me to be inspired to write. I’m not asking questions about this, since at one point, I was over five thousand words behind whilst writing this month, and gay country music helped me to get to my goal.
Another highlight of this year was the fact that I cried while writing chapter one, which was on Day Three of the month. I can’t say I’m surprised, since there’s a lot of me in Valerie, just like there’s a lot of me in all of my female characters, but I wasn’t expecting chapter one to get me right out of the gates. Heads up, this book is going to be incredibly emotional, and that was my first warning sign.
So, there you have it. NaNoWriMo 2024. Now that it’s over, when I’m not studying for finals, I’m working on a crazy multiverse thing that I’m not going to get into here, but just know that there’s a lot of background stuff in the works right now, including an incredible amount of lore that I’m probably going to be the only one to see. Honestly, that’s just who I am as a writer, and I’m not ashamed.
That's all for now, folks!
-C
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