Who Crossed the Finish Line?
November 30, 2008
Well, those of us who partook in NaNoWriMo this year must know: did you cross the finish line?
I didn’t. I am bringing up the rear, however (if only I could do that literally), with an added 11,000 words on my novel in progress, plus a couple thousand other words on shorter projects that I took deliberate liberties — deliberties? 
– to write when I felt like I’d never catch up anyway.
If you crossed the finish line, how do you feel about what you wrote? Will you spend December editing or finishing the writing process?
If you didn’t cross the finish line, how far did you get? And was what you wrote real crap or real save-worthy prose?
Entry Filed under: Cockrill, nanowrimo, novels, writers, writing, writing life. Tags: crap, crossing the finish line, nanwrimo, novels, word counts, writers, writing life.
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1.
Julie | December 1, 2008 at 12:20 am
I think 11,000 new words on a project puts you in a winning position. Just think, if you hadn’t taken on this daunting task, you wouldn’t be well advanced in the writing and figuring out of this project.
A lot of what I wrote was crap, but it is good crap that helped me figure out the story and develop several of my characters. I can’t wait to go back now and cut the unnecessary crap and reorganize.
2.
dianegallant | December 1, 2008 at 9:28 pm
11,000 words, that’s not too shabby! I think you made a good go of it. It seems to me (non-particcipant that I am) that it takes courage as well as a sense of fun and a bit of pure-reckless creative spirit. Will you participate again next year?
3.
K. Jayne Cockrill | December 1, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Julie, I have a whole lot more words than I had before, that’s for sure. So thanks, I guess that does put me in a winning position. I can’t wait to see what you do with your novel too.
Diane, I may do it again next year, and then again maybe not. If I have less things to overwhelm me next year, I just might. I could really see doing it if I didn’t have the day job.
4.
victanguera | December 2, 2008 at 8:21 pm
You made progress, so that makes you a winner. I did the required 50,000 words, but didn’t finish the novel. I’m going to try to finish it in December but I have another WIP that is screaming for my attention so I might go back to that.
5.
B J Keltz | December 4, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I start editing and revising my NaNo novel this weekend. It’s probably going to take three times as long as writing it did, but that’s okay. I have a fairly good road map to follow and I’m looking forward to the process.
6.
sleepercity | December 7, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Oh man, Nano was crazy again. I actually just posted an entry about it because I don’t feel like I’ve really let go of the whole ‘event’ yet.
I got to 50,000 in the early hours of the 28th and now have another bloody unfinished project that is actually kind of interesting to me, but no more time than I had before November. Will spend December poking at it and procrastinating by working on other things, no doubt.
7.
Merrilee Faber | January 2, 2009 at 2:01 am
I got 5000 words before I realised that romance is just not my genre
Oh well, you have to experiment!
Hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.
8.
1writeway | January 11, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Kudos to all of you who just stuck with it, regardless of how many words you got in. I “won” the 2007 NaNoWriMo and was smug enough to think I could (easily) do it again in 2008. Alas, life interrupted and I think I posted only 2,000 words, if that. The good news is I’m still working on the novel, just in a more sporadic fashion. And I’ve become a bit more humble