The Wrap Up

Here we are, already at the end of November. It went fast, didn't it? I was just commenting to TK that from Halloween to New Year is just one long blur...the fastest time of year. Weren't the Halloween decorations just going up? Now it's Christmas everywhere. I'm not complaining. My boys are so excited to see lights and those huge inflatable holiday decorations (awesome) people put on their front yards. The gaudier the better!

I thought I'd finish out the month with a wrap up of what I've learned from NaNoWriMo, and NaBloPoMo.

• It's certainly possible to write a rough draft of a novel in a month. In fact, it's not really that difficult. It just takes an hour or two a day.
• Said novel may be complete crap, but it's still a novel.
• Wednesday nights at Borders are apparently pick-up night, as there was always a group of guys cruising for chicks. At a book store. It was awesome to listen in on.
• People conduct a frightening amount of business in Panera. Other breakfast places, like Au Bon Pain, were no where near as filled with interviews and sales people on cell phones and business presentations. I have no idea how Panera has become the place to work for a vast number of people, but it was pretty annoying when one is trying to write in relative peace. It's a lot harder to ignore three different guys on competing sales calls all trying to push their products than it is to ignore more normal conversations. Of course, on the flip side, the cantankerous old man conversation happened at an Au Bon Pain. So perhaps the sales guys are preferable.
  
• Writing is one of those things that is truly 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Perhaps good writing is more like 95/5, but it really is HARD WORK. Fun much of the time, but it's still a lot more effort than I thought.
• Having won NaNo last year, it was easier this year. I knew I was capable, and that knowledge took a lot of fear out of the equation. I knew to expect slow downs, and blocks, and moments (days) of thinking it was a big waste of time and effort for something so terrible. But I also knew I could push past those things.
  
• I don't have 30 continuous days of interesting blog posts in me. Look forward to my average of 4 to 5 posts a week in the future. And I'm sorry to those of you who suffered along through some of the less stellar moments :)
  
• I don't know if I'd do NaBloPoMo again, though I love having a record of NaNoWriMo. That's just for myself, though...perhaps a less public forum would be more appropriate.
• It's very fun to have "writing buddies". The write-ins I went to were great motivation. I really need to find a writing group. I wish I could have talked some of my real life friends into writing. Maybe next year!
  
• My blog stats took a hit in November. I lost about 20 readers per day by the end of last week, and this week has been in the toilet, though I assume (hope) it's from the holiday. Or maybe I just bored you all so badly you ran screaming from your computers. Aaaaahhhhh! :)
• I've missed checking in on blogs as often as I did previously. I "found" a lot of my writing time by cutting out blog reading time. That's especially true of "new" blogs, such as through The Secret is in the Sauce. I tried to stick by my favorite blogs, but I've missed stumbling upon new-to-me blogs.
• I had an awesomely great time with NaNoWriMo, and am already considering it again next year. There's just such a fun energy to it!

That's it! My wrap-up of the month. As my niece would say, peace out!

If you have any questions about NaNoWriMo, feel free to ask them. If not, well, I'll probably spare you from the endless writing updates, or at least keep them to a more reasonable level :)