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NaNoWriMo, Affairs, and General Updates

So I finished Act I of my novel! Yay!  It's somewhere along 8,000 words.  My last 2 chapters are more notes than actual prose because I realized that I needed to make some shifts, so I didn't want to write chapters that would ultimately most likely just get thrown out. 

So, now I'm taking a month off from that project (so I can distance myself a bit from it, and be able to edit a little more critically.) In the meantime, I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and working on my "affair project".

Here's the thing.  I love NaNo. I have participated in it off and on since I was in high school, I was a municipal liaison once, and have made a lot of friends doing it, but I have NEVER made it to 50,000 words.  I've always burnt out.  And I won't make the wordcount again this year either.  But the issue I was having before was that I was using Nano as a means to finish a project. And I just don't work that way. 

Not only did I never create an outline (and didn't really know how until this year to be honest) but I just couldn't commit to that frantic kind of writing enough to finish a book.  But I've missed it.  As I've been working on my current project which has an almost too detailed outline, I've discovered that I kinda miss just flying from the seat of my pants.  So I'm using NaNo this year to build up some confidence in my free writing. 

Ultimately, my goal as a writer is to find a happy medium.  To not have to rely on a scene by scene outline, but to have a loose outline, and just let my creative juices flow.

I'm 1300 words into my affair project right now (which will be a NaNo only project). And these 1300 words have come to me a lot faster than the first 1300 words of my outlined project. 

Writing is all about just getting it done.  But a huge part of that is confidence, and NaNo has always been there to build my confidence.  The people who participate, the emailed pep-talks, the whole experience just reminds me how positive writing actually is, and what a great part of my life it is.  It reminds me that writing is a creative endeavor.  It's not always all about the meticulous outlining process, separating things out into scenes, and acts.  It's about creating characters, and moods, and worlds.  It's amazing.

Starting December 1st, I will starting editing Act 1 of my main project, and probably work on some short stories in the meantime to get some things out there in 2017.  And hopefully in January I will start working on Act 2.  We'll see how long the editing process takes.  I'm not sure if it will take me 1 or 2 months.  We'll find out at the end of December.

Anyway.  Feel free to follow me on NaNo.  My username is Tulip Girl.  I'd love to see what you all are working on.

Until next time!
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