To Write or not to Write

Well, I never got to 50,000 words with my NaNoWriMo book. I tried, really I did. But near the end, it just got too insane. I couldn't write anymore...for a number of reasons (I'll explain later). However, if I come up with another great story idea between now and next November, I may just try again. ;) Anyways, I'm quite glad I participated, because it helped me ALOT. I laid down a really good groundwork for my NaNo book during that time, and I wrote some really cool stuff. All in all, it was extremely helpful. Also, one of the emails from Chris Baty was extremely encouraging for me:

"Group Three: The Go On Without Me's. For you, November turned out to be a very bad month to try and write a novel. Life went completely crazycakes, and you faced a never-ending series of demanding work or school projects, health emergencies, social obligations, and/or tech meltdowns. You managed to get a few good ideas down on paper, but never quite found your novel's rhythm. You're thinking of bowing out, and planning on giving it a try next year."

Yeah, that was me. But then he wrote something really nice later on for 'Group Three':

"For the Go On Without Me's: This is going to sound really weird, but you're in the best shape of all three groups. You're off the map, but that's the point of this escapade. NaNoWriMo is to there to put you in such an impossible situation that you can stop worrying about perfection and achievement and just savor the thrill that comes with making and doing. Think of the remaining days in NaNoWriMo as an anything-goes creative retreat. You sacrificed your novel to the world around you this month, and the world around you appreciated it. But you now get some time for you. You may not write 50,000 words, but you still have plenty of time to create something smaller and equally wonderful. Return to the page—there's still a beautiful adventure waiting for you."

I found that really nice and encouraging, so yay to Chris Baty for being a super cool dude. :D

So what exactly did happen that stopped my novel from getting written? It was mostly parties, really. See, now that we have this huge new house, we want to share it with other people. So it started on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Of course that was all Thanksgiving preparation. Then Thanksgiving happened, and that was more preaparation and (of course) eating. Then Friday, my brother hosted a party for his soccer teammates. Saturday, we were invited to a birthday party. Sunday, we hosted ANOTHER party, for our homeschool teen group. Sunday was the second to last day of November, and by that time I was so washed out I couldn't even try to write Monday (the last day of November). And of course I had little or no time to write during that party-prep stretch. So yeah. Now I'm just glad it's all over.
I'm pretty proud of myself, though. I managed to write over 30,000 words. That's an accomplishment. I don't have the awesome-looking NaNo award to proudly post on my blog, but at least I can say I participated. Congrats to all you NaNo winners; you guys rock. (Yep, that means you Hannah. ;D)

Oh yeah, and tomorrow's my birthday. Whew, I can't believe I'll be 16. o_0

God bless!

-Limwen