NaNoWriMo: So how did it go?

I should be tired today. If everything had gone according to my National Novel Writing Month plan, I would've been up until Midnight last night, typing away those last words to reach the finish line of 50,000 words. Then I would've typed a nice, satisfactory "The End" at the bottom and called it a night, and a month, and a novel. I did stay up a little bit later than usual, staring at the computer screen. But I have to admit that I was checking on the cyber Monday deals (20% off and free shipping at the Gap!), creeping towards The End of my Christmas list, rather than The End of my novel.

So how did it go? As much as I would love to fly a big old "Mission Accomplished" banner as a headline here, and actually mean it, I am still pretty satisfied with what I accomplished. I wrote 19,000 words. Or 35 pages in Microsoft Word of Times New Roman, single spaced. It's enough that I am committed to finishing it and, while it may not be award-winning writing by any stretch, I'm happy with it so far.

I learned a few things this month too. I learned that I love sitting down at my computer and imagining myself in a completely different world, creating characters and directing what happens to them. I learned that even though I started out with a plan, my novel soon took a path of its own, changing and evolving as I dove further into it. I learned that, on week two when I suddenly didn't know my characters or where they were going, my mom's advice and support can pull me out of a writer's block. I also learned that having a writing group to encourage me to keep going is critical to motivating me to find any time to write.

While I loved the process of writing, I felt more frustrated than usual this month. I tried writing during the day a few times and once counted seventeen interruptions in five minutes. (Full disclosure: While writing this blog post, I have cleaned up pee on the rug, broken up two fights, made lunch, washed dishes and wrestled the phone from Noni.) Trying to find the time to do something on my own showed me how little time I actually have to do just that. I do have time to write after the girls go to bed, but I feel like my creative juices have dried up a bit by that time of day. Eventually I found myself writing pages in my head as I did upward dog in yoga class or rode on the bike at the gym and then simply typing out what I had "written" already at night.

The best thing about this month? I never would have even considered writing a novel at this time in my life if both NaNoWriMo and my friend Tara hadn't both pushed me to give it a try. The "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants", "write drunk, edit sober" style of writing that NaNoWriMo encourages allowed me to let my guard down and forced me just to sit and write as much as I could whenever I could.

And so, while part of me wishes I could write "The End" on a novel after this month, I'm happy to announce that I have accomplished "The Middle". And since I am looking forward to continuing to work on my novel, The Middle actually feels like a pretty good place to be.