Mis Escritos Y Pensamientos

In October, a friend introduced me to a wonderful, horrible thing called "NANOWRIMO." It was new, it was exciting, it was elusive...

NANOWRIMO is the shortened version of the actual title, which is "National Novel Writer's Month." Basically, in November a bunch of crazy people decide to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. For some reason, I decided that this would be something "fun" to do. I had always wanted to write a novel, but figured that it would be one of those things that I would eventually get to. The time had finally come. November 2008 was MY month. Questions began to formulate in my brain and invade my thoughts throughout the day. In my car, at work, or in front of the students teaching, these questions began to flow constantly. I should have known at this time what a life-sucking experience this would be. Still, I was yet to be dissuaded from the task at hand. The questions only became more as November quickly approached.

"What will I write about?"

"How can I 'cheat' and get extra words?"

"Is it NANO -RIE- MO or NANO - REE -MO?"

The first day was a success. Sure I didn't have a plot yet, but that was to be expected. Background is always a great place to start. I wrote almost 2,400 words. I thought that was pretty good, considering that I had to average 1,760 a day to reach my goal. Ah....day one was over, and I was ahead of schedule.

Everything fell apart the second day. No, I was not bitten by some nasty anti-writing bug (trust me, they do exist), writer's block wasn't a problem either. On Day 2 of NANOWRIMO, my grandfather passed away. For the next four days, I didn't write a word, and besides grieving over our loss, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had already failed in my goal. I was four days behind. That was over 7,000 words.

After much discussion, prayer, and encouragement, especially from my boyfriend, I decided to try and make up lost ground and finish my novel before the dreaded deadline.

Many days, frustrations, and lack of plots later, the end of November arrived. Many times, when asked if I could go do something, my reply was, "I can't. I have to write."

It was horrible, difficult, frustrating, and I loved it. On November 30th, at 2 in the morning (22 hours before the deadline) I hit 50,066 words. The task was completed! I had reached the goal!!!!

Unfortunately, that's only partly true. I reached my word goal by the deadline, but what has that really left me with? It's left me with a 50,000 word story that isn't finished. Yes, it has been over a month since I "finished" NANOWRIMO, and yet, my poor character still don't know what's going to happen to them in the end. My poor editors don't know either. Heck, not even the writer knows what's going to happen to them. It's a sad story. Maybe I should just end the story where it is now. Sure, there would be no great conclusion, but many a great writer has left their readers "hanging". Or, better yet, I could pull a Dickens. Tie everything together and make everyone live happily ever after in the last two pages of the novel.

Whatever happens, I have got to finish it. In fact, if I were to have a New Year's Goal, that's what it would be. I resolve to finish my novel before March! Or at the very latest, I have to finish it by November. NANOWRIMO starts then, and I have to be ready to start on my next novel.