Another NaNoWriMo Ends

National Novel Writing Month is over. I conquered - or at the very least persevered - and received my sidebar logo showing all and sundry that I did indeed make it to the end. I also received a pdf certificate, suitable for printing and framing - a truly lovely thing that is saved on my hard drive - to let any visitors to my home, or office (ain't got one), know what a fine typer of words I am.

In the group that I was a part of we had quite a few make it over the 50,000 word mark, including one intrepid Lady who was over 70,000 words before she had the nerve to finally "validate" her totals. Her final total stands at 80,153! Wow! My own total was a meager 52,570 for the month. Only a few of our group didn't make it to 50K, but they certainly did not give up, despite computer problems, illness, or "life" butting in.

If you have the interest you can access our forum to check out our postings and see what we did as the weeks went on. It's really a lot of cheer leading. And that's actually helpful when one enters, wondering how bad they're doing. They don't see any bragging, but instead see applause and support, urgings to keep going, and snippets of works in progress (WIP) posted in their profiles. Writers need the support, even if they don't want to show anybody their work until it is done. Writing, especially fiction, is a very strange vocation, and it comes with all sorts of pitfalls and dangers. We writers tend to be very solicitous of our characters and stories, and suspicious of comments on unfinished work.

We can get very touchy!

Perhaps the greatest pitfall, and abiding fear, that every writer has is the infamous "Writer's Block". NaNoWriMo is a kind of defense against the Block. What with all the support from fellow writers it is difficult to fall into "Writer's Block" - you simply have too many folks tossing perfectly good ideas and suggestions to you to stop writing.

Like some writers I have a different problem, though the fear of Writer's Block is ever-present. I have too damned many stories in my head. At present I have 2 novels in the writing stage - one is moving along slowly but is the one I should finish soonest; the other is at the beginning stage and is still mostly humming in my head - 2 on the shelf for later consideration and research, and 1 just suggested, so little more than an idea (Thanks a heap, Kevin! Grrrrr!), though an interesting one. 2 each of the novels are Historical Fiction and 2 are Science Fiction (though one is aimed at younger readers), and 1 is a Saga, I suppose (Thanks a heap, Kevin! Grrrrr!).

And like all writers I have the constant urge to not write. Writers are much like Irish Setters, easily distracted by shiny objects and inviting smells. Programs like NaNo help as you're measuring your output with the output of many thousands of other writers. Embarrassment is to be avoided! But what you produce is real and is now usable verbiage, waiting for more words to be added and the editing process to begin. So 50K+ is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to a novel. It's a nice total for one-third to perhaps one-half of a book. NaNo is a help and it's fun. It's a bit of networking, too.

On another, though related, note, my publisher now has a Print On Demand agreement with Amazon! So my book is available at Amazon.com as well as Lulu.com! That's a good thing!

So tell your family and friends! Buy my book! You may well enjoy it. LOL