The 2015 National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is over, and I did not gain an increase in gray hairs, no bags under my eyes, no serious meltdowns (unless you want to count those few times when I just stared at my blank computer), and no questioning why I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo. I'd thought about doing it numerous times over the years and even tried to recruit a writer partner in crime to go through the daunting effort with me. But I just never seriously put forth the effort to do it until now. And this time I made the decision quickly and there was no need to try to get a writer friend to participate with me, since there were plenty of fellow writers already going down the same road. I caught a ride with them on social media and didn't get off until my novel was complete.

I'd credit social media, most notably Twitter, for keeping me even more focused on my date with NaNoWriMo. There were definitely some days when 50,000 words seemed improbable, but then there were other days when it seemed I could easily surpass this amount. But when I just couldn't find the words, the words eventually found me.

I must also credit the great folks over at NaNoWriMo for the wonderful writing prompts that came in handy whenever things just weren't going well. Sometimes it only took a single word to get me going, other times I participated in a medley of writing prompts. I even created my own writing prompts on some occasions.

I'm ecstatic that I took on the NaNoWriMo writing challenge seeing as though I have not written much fiction since graduate school, a fact clearly evident on almost every page of my novel. Thirty days of binge writing is just what I needed to get the fiction writing ball rolling again. Even though there are no repercussions for not meeting the NaNoWriMo goal, I simply decided to hold myself accountable and generally wrote every day, with the exception of five or so days. On the days when I didn't write, I wrote more the next day, then the next, and so on. One day I wrote over 8,000 words ... that's just how quickly that part of the story came to me. My fingers could barely keep up with my mind. For me, NaNoWriMo was an excellent way to discipline myself, something I drastically needed.

Surprisingly, although forcing myself to write 50,000 words in 30 days is challenging, this experience wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be. Even with managing my work life and personal life it was, dare I say, much easier than I expected. Was it my eagerness to reconnect with that genre of writing? Was it my crazy characters trying to get out of my head and onto the page? (These characters have been with me a long time.) Was it those few lines that made me pat myself on the back and gave me the extra push I needed to keep writing? Was it that one juicy word that seemingly came from nowhere and gave me a refreshing new idea? Maybe it was a combination of all these things that helped me to reach the 50,000 word count, and I can accept that.

I don't even feel bad that much of what I wrote in my NaNoWriMo novel isn't usable. Most writers understand this. It's a normal part of the writing process. In fact, it's rare that you keep a lot of the original writing in a first draft. What I wrote is what author Anne Lamott refers to as a "shitty first draft" in her book Bird by Bird. (If you're a writer, and you've never read this book, do yourself a favor and purchase it now. Really, stop reading this post and go get it. But come back.) My first draft is incredibly shitty. It's so shitty that the shit can't be cleaned out. Meaning, a rewrite won't even be able to get some of these stubborn stains out. I am more than fine with that. You can't take off as much time as I did from fiction writing and expect to write an incredible first draft let alone a best seller. But I am immensely proud to say that there are bits and pieces, little morsels of story that is quite spectacular if I say so myself. I mean, honestly, I have to say so myself ... whatever gets my fingers to typing.

I have a number of pieces that I've written--particularly short fiction pieces--over the past 10 years or so that I have not finished. I just left the stories where they were whenever I got stuck and never went back to them. They deserve better; therefore, thanks to NaNoWriMo I'll go back to them and give them a proper ending. Additionally, I will settle in for a nice lengthy journey of rewrites for my NaNoWriMo novel.

Here are a few takeaways from my National Novel Writing Month experience:

▪ It really is that important to write every day. You can miss a day here and there and step away from a story to regroup if you need to, but you can't go days, weeks, months, years without writing.

▪ Trust your characters. They know what they are doing. When you try to silence them because you want a different story, you end up with an even shittier first draft. Listen to the words on the page.

▪ Although I never usually start my fiction stories with an outline, I can see how one would have benefited me because of the type of novel I wrote-- a series of short stories with one major underlying theme.

▪ The story you imagined telling doesn't necessarily end up being the story you've put on the page. You may start off writing dark humor, but a more serious tone and story can suddenly take over. You have to accept this change in story, and again, that requires listening to your characters. However, if it still doesn't feel right, maybe it's not that great of an idea, or it's simply a story you're not capable of telling at this time.

▪ You absolutely must write through the cobwebs. When you do so, great prose can eventually happen. This means that when you're at a loss for words, you may just have to start writing about the pen in your hand, the keyboard you're typing on, the snack you're eating, your current surroundings, or simply the voice in your head saying 'I'm stuck.' Trust me, it works.

If you participated in NaNoWriMo this year or years prior, I'd love to hear about your experience!

Happy continued writing!

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