I did it! I am a winner! As is everybody who signed up the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) irrespective of whether they hit the 50,000 target or not.
Even if writers fall short, they can’t fail but have learned something from the experience. In my case the forward only momentum has been good for me as my tendency is to correct and re-edit ad infinitum. I usually end up being bored with what I’ve written so abandon everything (this why I like writing blog entries which are best when more condensed). I’ve also learnt a lot about what it takes to keep a narrative afloat and how hard it is to create vivid characterization.
I admit that the degree of padding increased alarmingly towards the end and I haven’t yet summoned up the courage to read the novel through from start to finish. Still I do have a finished first draft that I can tinker with at my leisure (I’ll give myself some time off before I attempt this!)
The ‘novel’ I wrote is called ‘Nothing Left Undone’ . It charts a lonely man’s mid life crisis so is gloomy in parts but I made sure it had a feel good ending.
In general I fear it reflects my over immersion in outsider novels when I was at an impressionable age. You’d think that into my 5th decade I’d have worked the alienated existential angst of Camus, Kafka etc out of my system but obviously not.
I don’t pretend it’s a great work of art (not yet anyway!)but I enjoyed the experience. The lively NaNo website and the pep talks helped to keep me on track.
Congratulations, Ray! You must be feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Thanks for the pep talk you left on my blog. I’ll keep chipping away at it and maybe next year will reach the 50K mark.