Wednesday, December 2, 2015

#IWSG: NaNo Failure

Happy Insecure Writer's Support Day! Writers from across the galaxy join on the first Wednesday of the month to shout our hopes, dreams, fears, and wishes into the void and support each other-join us!

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Yup, another NaNo has come to a close, and I did not win. 

Now, to set this up (so you can appreciate the tragedy ;)), this was my seventh NaNo, and only second failure. The other failure was really more of a never-even-got-going one, not like this- a so-close-but-no-cigar- failure. I ended with 46,938 words. But that was on Sunday evening, after a 2,400 word day. Monday just didn’t happen, and I already knew it wasn’t going to be a finish year. Now, understand, per their site I have finished 302,044 words in my years doing NaNo (and waaaay more than that outside of it ;0)).

I am okay with this failure.

This was an emotionally hard month for me, and I sorta thought of aiming for just 30,000 words (yeah, the competitive NaNo spirit shot that idea down after day one ;)).
Plus I kept missing days for various reasons which ended up causing me to do super heavy sprints to try and catch up. My right arm’s chronic tendinitis decided to go all acute on me, and I popped something in my left wrist November 30th.

Because I didn’t pace myself, I didn’t “win” and I injured myself. SIGH.

BUT!  I still count this as a win for me and the book: 

1) I did a lot of words, many of which I’ll keep. I ended up with a very interesting plot twist that just keeps leading to more twists as I go- had I not been in, “just get something up there!” mode, I might not have jumped where I did.

2) I learned I can be okay with not winning ;). (Big step-LOL- although my constant losing in Words with Friends may have broken down the wall on this one).

3) On the way home yesterday, I was in story-head. You know when you’re reading a book, and you can’t wait to get back to where you left off?  I had that with MY book! Lemme tell ya, it was awesome to realize the story I couldn’t wait to dive back into wasn’t what I was reading, but what I was writing ;).

4) I had a fun time. NaNo for me is fun, racing with folks, meeting total strangers who are just as twisted as you are, the smack talk. I had a blast.


So, yes, I lost- but it was way worth it ;). I’ll be back next year!!

 What about you? Did you NaNo this year? How was it? Have you hit whatever writing goals you had for this year?
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24 comments:

  1. Chemist KenDecember 2, 2015 at 6:42 AM

    Hmmm... Never heard of a NaNo injury before. Maybe you'l just have to call this year's challenge a draw instead of a loss. Hey, winning the challenge five times out of seven sounds pretty impressive to me.

    And no, I did not meet my writing goals for the year. :(

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:46 AM

      Thanks! I'm thinking NaNo injuries are like mine, caused by not doing it right ;). Sorry you didn't reach your goals- but hopefully you're still moving forward!

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  2. Bob/SallyDecember 2, 2015 at 6:45 AM

    I just can't commit to the stresses of NaNo, not with a day job stealing so many of my evenings and weekends. I think the fact that you took part is incredible enough. :)

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:47 AM

      Thanks! The day job does make it more intense, and yes, I write during my lunch breaks at it ;).

      Delete
  3. StephscoDecember 2, 2015 at 6:59 AM

    Great perspective. I knew I'd only win if I had a 10k day that last weekend, and who wants to do that? Except, I did it. I don't know how, but I kept chugging along, ignoring everyone, kicking back anti-inflammatory for my carpel tunnel. I'm apparently stubborn.

    So I finished, but like you I had come to a peace about not finishing. I'd rather have good content to edit later than a mess. It's still impressive how many people are willing to sit down and write with discipline for a month. Inspiring.

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:48 AM

      Excellent! I just really love the whole NaNo experience, and that is awesome you could pull 10,000 in the final week-end!

      Delete
  4. Misa BuckleyDecember 2, 2015 at 7:17 AM

    I didn't make 50K for NaNo either. Not sure if it was my headspace (which has been awful for 18 months) or the fact I'm now working full-time.

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:50 AM

      But you tried! Yup, full-time evil day jobs make things "interesting" -LOL. It does however make me very creative about sneaking in writing time ;). As I told a friend at the day job- "writing is my career, this job is my job". Good luck next year!

      Delete
  5. Diane BurtonDecember 2, 2015 at 7:18 AM

    You're farther ahead today than you were a month ago. You found some twists you didn't realize were there. I'd call that a win!

    Best wishes,
    Diane
    IWSG #85

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:50 AM

      True! We have to take the wins when we get them :). Thanks!

      Delete
  6. emaginetteDecember 2, 2015 at 7:46 AM

    It sounds like a win to me. There are too many positives to be anything less. :-)

    Anna from Elements of Writing

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:51 AM

      Thank you! I'm pretty happy with things :)- would have been nicer to have paced myself better, but it's all good :).

      Delete
  7. Sandra HooverDecember 2, 2015 at 8:23 AM

    So many lessons learned from another NaNo writing marathon! That's a win in my book. Best of luck moving forward!

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  8. Nadine_FeldmanDecember 2, 2015 at 11:43 AM

    Repeat after me: "I did not fail. I did not fail. I did not fail."

    This seems to be a common theme today, that those who didn't make the 50K are calling it a "failure." This, my friend, is no failure.

    I did NaNo this year, my third. I won in a bizarre ten days (still shaking my head -- don't know how that happened). I gave myself full permission to not "win" in case my other WIP came back from the editor...but the timing worked, so okay. But I feel that what makes us winners is showing up and doing our best, whether or not we end up with the official winning word count at the end.

    Just, please, don't call it a failure.

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:53 AM

      Well, technically, since part of it was the 50,000 goal, I did fail to complete that. BUT NaNo itself was in no way a failure for me (if that makes sense ;)).

      Delete
  9. Loni TownsendDecember 2, 2015 at 2:16 PM

    Egads! I hope your injury gets better.

    I think you did great. Words are words! And many were keepable words. I say that's a win. :)

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:55 AM

      Thanks! Yes, keepable words are our friends ;). Of course now I still have to go back in and deflate the word count- ya know those sections you "white-out" while doing nano that you already know you won't use but keep the words there for counting? Yeah, going be sad to see that number go down-LOL.

      Delete
  10. Stephanie FarisDecember 2, 2015 at 3:03 PM

    Wow...that's a lot of words. I don't think any NaNo is a failure when you write that many words during the month. It's a huge win!

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:55 AM

      Thank you :). That is definitely way more words than I would have had without doing NaNo- so it's a VERY good thing!

      Delete
  11. dolorahDecember 2, 2015 at 4:16 PM

    47k in a month is still pretty awesome. And being excited about continuing YOUR OWN BOOK is even better. That's a win win in my book :)

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    1. Marie AndreasDecember 3, 2015 at 5:57 AM

      Thank you! Yeah, that feeling of wanting to get back to the story I was "reading" and then realizing, no, it's the story I'm WRITING (ahh, the magic of pantsing ;)) was pretty awesome!

      Delete
  12. alexiaDecember 3, 2015 at 7:08 PM

    I hate the winning/losing terminology of NaNo. You DEFINITELY won! 47k words is great! Plus fun plot twists, plus being super excited to dive back into it. Don't feel bad in the slightest!

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  13. J.H. MoncrieffDecember 5, 2015 at 11:52 PM

    Congrats, Marie! I think you did great, and you got so close! I'm glad you're not taking this as a failure.

    This was my third NaNo and my third win, and the first time I was able to stay pretty much on par the entire time. That's unusual for me.

    Thanks for commenting on my blog this week. It was great to "meet" you.

    ReplyDelete

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