Parting Thoughts on NaNoWriMo 2011

Okay, it’s December. NaNoWriMo is officially, finally over. Whew. So, what have I learned? (Presented in no order, whatsoever…)

OMG I need a haircut! Seriously people. And then I can do the tips purple again. Yay for free time!
WTH happened to my November? I mean, I spend every workweek morning and night on the train writing, every lunch at work writing, my evening free time writing, my weekend free time writing, and POOF, there goes the month! But am I happy I met my goal? Is that the emotion I have right now? Turns out I’m competitive, and I just kept pushing, despite my brain’s desperate desire to take a break. (I’m sure those of you who know me well are shocked as shit over that one.) No, ‘happy’ isn’t where I’m at. I set myself a goal and I dared myself to follow through. I was fairly sure I was capable, but didn’t know if I had the endurance. Now I understand it’s just another my mind, or the spoon that bends matrix moment. Officially: my mind is still bent. (Yes, someone take me out for wine!) Emotionally? I’m a little shell-shocked.
Have you tried emailing me this past month? Calling? Have I gotten back to you? Bwahahaha! I have so many unread emails in my inbox, it’s not even funny. Yeah, I’ve got paperwork piled up to go through. Whatever. See #2.
Something awesome happens when you simply must write — now! Don’t get me wrong, I had my world laid out and characters developed and a good idea of where things were headed, but I’m used to allowing scenes to spin around in my mind for a day or two before spewing them out. Let me tell you, when you suddenly ramp up your production speed for a deadline, you don’t have that luxury. Things come out unedited and raw, balls to the wall, completely uncensored. Yeah. Pretty much like this post. I’m looking forward to re-reading what I’ve written past the first few days into NaNo, because I think there’s a layer there I haven’t had before. Then again, it may all suck. HAH!
My paranormal romance plot with a twist of horror: yeah, it came out with more than a twist of horror. I hope you like your romance with a side of blood and gore. What else was I expecting from my brain?
In the final week of the month-long sprint, I began losing words at random. I simply couldn’t think of them while I was trying to talk or write. It was as if I’d dumped so many words out of my head that I’d simply ran the well dry. Pathetic, really. I’d say more on this topic, but, you know…
I so miss reading. And I have like, a million or so books to catch up on. More or less. Good thing I’m a quick reader. Let’s just hope I can remember what all those fancy words mean, considering I ripped so many out of my brain permanently last month. I may need to use a dictionary.
Now that I’m done with the first draft of the Daemon Summoner, I have two books to edit. (I finished book two in my Depths of Memory series back in October. Oh, and I need to name it too. ‘Book 2’ sucks as a name, generally speaking.) Oddly enough, after all of this creative work, I find I’m craving the editorial process. Why? Because it doesn’t stretch me in the same way. I get to instead roll around in familiar territory, rework, and remodel all I want. My mind craves a break from forging new ground. Heck, it’s earned it. After I plow through the edits on these two books I get to tackle the plot structure to book 3 in the conclusion of the Depths of Memory series, and I’ll need all the reserves I have for that puppy. So yeah, editing sounds fun now.
I’ve realized I need to rename my paranormal romance series. The Chosen Few has too many connotations to religious/Jewish history, and it’s been used too frequently in other book titles. I need something more unique for the series name. Stay tuned.

Yup, all of that from November. And my kid got into his first fight in school, and kicked the other kid’s ass. It was the one day I didn’t write a word for NaNoWriMo (see the red mark below), cause I was being a mom. Yeah, so, I’m not *that* driven.