NaNoWriMo Has Wrapped

But the journey continues

NaNoWriMo 2021 was good to me. I did more than my 50,000 words. I was able to create a story that I’m excited about. I got to know my characters better, and created some new imaginary friends along the way. And most importantly, my writing habit is stronger after 30 days of working on this project every day.

That doesn’t mean my work is done.

The rough draft I have is very rough. When the goal is to get words on the page, craft takes a backseat. I use speech recognition software for my rough drafts, and I tell myself the story. Although speech recognition software isn’t perfect, I find that it’s a fabulous way to get the story out on the first round. As ideas pop into my head, they just have to spill out of mouth to be recorded. I have a wireless headset, so I can wander around the house as I speak the story, and the movement helps my ideas to flow.

Unfortunately, at the end of telling myself this story (during which my ideas develop and I jump back and forth to connect different parts of the story), I have an unorganized truck-load of dictation that needs to be sorted and ordered into a narrative that other people can understand. It’s time to go back and apply my craft to this chopped salad of a manuscript. The ideas in that narrative need further development to reach their potential and to discover any plotting or characterization problems.

Is this going to be a ton of work? Yes.

Am I going to love almost every minute of it? Oh, yeah!

So, even though I enjoyed a glass of prosecco to celebrate reaching my NaNo goal, I’ll be back to writing again tomorrow. I look forward to continuing this journey, and I also look forward to the next NaNoWriMo.

Did you do NaNo this year? How did you do?