July flew by and now Camp NaNoWriMo has ended and I'll go over what I think overall about the experience. First thing's first, here were my daily tools to survive the month-long activity:
Here are the total stats for the event:
I totaled about 12,000 words, when my goal was 35,000. I didn't write every day, for technical and creative reasons. Scrivener crashed on me at the start of camp and later I didn't write much because I wasn't at home as much. Creatively, I think I was not yet prepared to write the story...it felt like being push to jump off the plane without a tight enough parachute so I think I really struggled with returning to the desk to do write---it felt like I was pantsing so much and I am not a pantser!
Doing live sprints was super uncomfortable as I prefer to write thoughtfully than rapidly---yes, I will inevitably go back to edit but why make my future self's job harder if I try to write my best now. It simply is what I prefer. So with that said, I was more productive writing when I designated writing sessions rather than planning a daily writing habit.
I didn't meet my word count goal and that's okay, I learned so much about what kind of a writer I am and what I need to work on, and it was precisely what my intention was in getting involved in this crazy event. My plan moving forward after what I learned then is to continue writing at my own pace to finish it before actual NaNoWriMo in November. That way, for the month of November I will be editing the first draft over instead of focusing on a superficial word count.
After editing a few drafts I will consider getting a beta reader and making the book cover illustration. Here's what I was thinking on the left----in the baroque art style, since the story, although fantasy, takes place in an eighteenth-century style world. I'm so excited!
Overall, I'm so glad I did this---it jump-started my project again and I learned a lot about myself, which is all invaluable information.
I will continue to post updates about the novel once in a while, I plan on posting its prologue soon. Stay tuned!