I did it! I compled the challenge. It is something I have wanted to do for a while. For years, scores of writers have come together for National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal? To write 50,000 words in the thirty days of November. That is approximately 1,667 words a day. It may seem like a lot, but it is an exciting challenge for those who are brave enough to accept it.
I heard about it a couple of years ago, but I had just never gotten around to it. For a while, I was just a wannabe writer - someone who started so many books, but could not complete one.When I finished my first draft for my book King's Heart, I felt a little more ready to tackle the writing challenge of NaNoWriMo. About three weeks before it started, I came up with a new book idea, and NaNoWriMo seemed like the perfect opportunity to get it started. I already had the major plot figured out. Next, I needed to plan and prepare. I found a post by the Reedsy blog ( https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/nanowrimo/ ) that taught me a lot about NaNoWriMo and got me excited for November. I started researching NaNo and how to go about it. I also found a character template from fiction author Tricia Goyer. It was a big help for me to get to know my main characters. You can find her template here: https://www.triciagoyer.com/free-printables-for-writing-your-novel/ . Next was plotting the story. I did not know where to start because I normally have the main idea but write each plot point as I go. To stay on track for the month of November, I knew I needed to determine the plot points before I started working towards the 50,000 word goal in November 1st. As I was researching NaNo, I came upon the Plot card method. I gathered a thick stack of notecards to plot each point on. I already had the opening scene, so I wrote it on a notecard. Since I already had my main characters, the theme, and the plot, it was relatively easy for me to plan each plot point, or scene. I ended up with 44 cards.
By November 1st, I was as ready as I could be. I sat down to write. Thankfully, I already had the first scene started, so by that evening (the first day is the easiest because of the excitement), I had a word count of 2,837. By weeks end on Saturday, I had a word count of 11,747 - almost one hundred words ahead of Sunday's goal I had already planned to not write on Sunday for we had a meeting to go to in Ocala for a sister church's 20th anniversary. Getting ahead that first week had been very helpful. In planning for November, I had already marked off Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I knew I wanted to set those times aside for family traditions.
The second week was a killer. Mom was away in Michigan with Grandma to visit Mam-maw. I was in charge of taking care of my family since Mom was away, and Brenna was married by this time. I did enjoy planning the menu and taking care of them, but I made my time to write at night. I guess I would not recommend staying up until 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, for by week's end, I was exhausted. Of There were many days in November that I really tried to work ahead, not too hard to do as I first thought since I was on a roll by this time. Then there were at least four days that I took off completely. Would I finish? Would I make it to the end? Or would I be counted in the number that would come shy of the word count? The race was on...
By November 30, I was so excited to complete the challenge and reach 50,290 words. I had done it. I had finished a dream. Now, I had a brand new novel to work with it. Did I use all my plot cards? No. :) I still have more of the story to write which is what I am going to do after I finish this post. I am excited to see where this story ends. Maybe I will post what my story is about here soon. Or maybe next year... Wait, what am I thinking? Next year is right around the corner. Hmmm... I wonder where next year's writing adventure will take me...
Keeping my heart while keeping on writing,
Elisabeth Kristine
