Didn't Quite Make It

So, with all my prep and outlines and notes and pre-draft writing compiled along with my NaNo writing, I just didn't make the cut off. I hit 45,538 words in November for this novel. Not bad all told, especially when you consider that I had so many other things come up. This, I can say without hyperbole, was the single most busy NaNo I've ever had. This month threw more at me than any other November when I tried NaNo. So, actually, I'm quite pleased with 45K words. 

Why?

Becasue I started editing and rewriting (actually the more critical part of novel writing than the rough draft writing that is NaNo) a NaNo submission I had from three years ago. I wrote it about an elephant sactuary in Africa. A thriller. A complete and utter off the cuff NaNo submission and the other day between classes I started writing it again. It's not bad. I have just over 40K words of that ready to go and ready to edit. It's a great starting place. 

This one too will be a great starting place. I may not  have won but I'm glad I spent the time to get something down. Three or four years from now I'll find this submission and find I have 40K words on it and I'll be able to plug away on it as well. Despite three or four significant folks in my life telling me I was too busy, I'm glad I didn't listen and I took some time to write. 

As Carol Roberts writes in The Dissertation Journey:

“I discovered that my primary reward was not so much the exhilaration of standing on top of the mountain at journey’s end, but rather who I became as a result of the climb.”

What has been the result of my own climb? A better outliner? More understanding of finding time daily to write? 

I had without a doubt the best outline of any NaNo I've worked on. I got my cousin to start wrting his first NaNo submission (see here) . . . how did he do? Remains to be seen. I got three or four folks to give us updates for this blog (see here), which was nice to see. Overall, despite missing it by 5K words, there were some significant wins. I'll build on them for next year!