Monday, November 30, 2009

I am a NaNoWriMo WINNER!


"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again. " 
--Oscar Wilde

 So, it's official I am a NaNoWriMo WINNER! Yesterday, I submitted my manuscript of 56,324 words. It may never be read by another human being or make the NY Times best seller  list, but  I don't care!  It may be the worst novel ever penned,  but I don't care because I wrote a 56,324 word novel in a month's time, and that is a huge accomplishment no matter how horrible the novel is. I am proud of achieving my NaNoWriMo goal. I don't think I could have spent my November any other way.
I know my last blog post was a little bleak ...okay maybe more than a little bleak, but what can I say NaNoWriMo is a taxing experience. Participating is NaNoWriMo was probably one of the best decisions I have made this year. NaNoWriMo was exhausting, frustrating, taxing, infuriating, aggravating, maddening, fun, amusing, entertaining, horrifying, and compelling. NaNoWriMo is a mixed bag of emotions . Every time, I sat down at my computer to write I never knew what emotions my novel would bring out in me. Sometimes I would write for hours on end not really paying attention to what I was really writing, but I just needed to get everything down.  Those were my best writing days, because I would read over what I read afterwards, and I couldn't believe what I had written. I remember reading back a conversation I had written between my two main characters (Chloe and Ethan), and actually falling out of my chair because I was laughing so hard. 
I had a lot of good writing days, but I also had a lot of bad. There were days especially towards the end where I couldn't even muster the will to write.  The plot got sloppy; the characters got boring, and my novel just completely fell to apart ,and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. It was frustrating and I was ready to quit.  I remember calling my friend Luke the night I wrote my last blog post. I had just posted it to BlogSpot, and  I was in hysterics and crying because I couldn't figure out how to fix my novel . I think I pretty much convinced him I am completely nuts, but when I finally stopped talking Luke calmed me down, and gave me some basic advice. He pretty much told me I needed to walk away and forget about it for a few days. Luke's a freelance journalist . He writes about the economy and war and even spent 2 years in Africa, and a year in Iraq writing about war, and the impact it has had on the people there.  He is an amazing writer, and he knows what he is talking about so I decided to just follow his advice.  I just walked away and forgot all about Chloe and Ethan for two whole days. It was the best advice I've ever  taken.  When I sat down to write again my frustration was gone, and I was able to fix my novel and turn it into something I could be proud of.
NaNoWriMo wasn't easy and I never expected it to be. It was the hardest thing I have ever written and I did it in a month. I seems strange to think that I wrote a novel in only a month, because it seems like it took so much longer than that. I am happy I decided to participate this year because I have learned so much about not only myself but about how I write, and what does and does not work.  NaNoWriMo is a learning experience and an invaluable experience at that.
I  would like to thank everyone for putting up with me for the past month. This experience hasn't been easy and I'm glad that you trudged through the process with me. I'm sure my twitter updates were less than inspiring the past few weeks.
--Bridget
Pictures:
Here is a picture of me on the only day I really spent outside playing with the dog in November.



 
Favorite song at the Moment:  Is a tie between "I belong to you"-Muse and "Down for the Count"-Bowling for Soup. I know it is totally random, but I can't stop hitting the repeat button.
Book that I am reading at the moment: I'm between three at the moment. " My sunshine" by: Catherine Anderson, " Harry, A History" by: Melissa Anelli, and "13 Little Blue Envelopes" by: Maureen Johnson.



No comments:

Post a Comment