nanowrimo: i am a winner

See that cute little widget in the corner? I am a winner, people! This is good news.

I have a tremendous amount of satisfaction from completing my goal. There were a few moments I didn't think it would happen. But I really did love writing every day. Well, mostly everyday. I did skip a few.

However, I am completely disappointed with the last 6,000 plus words of my story. I went with another idea, abandoning the previously outlined and much thought about ending. I deviated to see where this new idea would take me, but in the end I should have gone with the first idea.

6,000 words may seem like a lot. It is. But I once wrote about 5,000 in one day so I don't feel like I lost a week of my life. Besides, I think you sometimes have to explore other ideas in order to feel more confident about your previous ideas. You have to write and write and write and write until it feels....well, right.

So what happens next?

First, I will rewrite the ending.

Then, I am going to print it out and leave it in my nightstand drawer for several weeks and work on something else as suggested by Stephen King. He has an awesome book called On Writing, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to write. Amazing, solid, interesting advice. I will need to reread it for sure. Anyway, he suggests you let your story sit for awhile without reading it and then come back to it ready to see all the flaws with a fresh perspective.

After that I am going to give it to my sister and husband to read. If they don't completely laugh at my attempt to write a novel I just may try to have it published. This quote is encouraging:

"There are no tricks I know of for getting a book deal. The proposal just has to find an editor who loves it. Given the great number of books published every year, quality is clearly not a major criterion. Getting published is a combination of determination and luck."
Mark Bowden

I will definitely participate next year. It really helped me to have a goal and make it public. Just enough pressure to finish and not give up :)

Thanks to all of you who encouraged me!