Well NaNo is over as of 4 days ago and I’m sure you can tell my winning status if you’ve checked the word meter on the side menu. I did not, infact, “win” NaNo. I’m ok with that and there are a few reasons why.
1) I realized early on in Nov that my book was going to require much more then 50k words to be a complete novel. That sort of defeats the purpose of “winning” NaNo when 50k won’t mean I actually complete the book.
2) I got an enormous amount of work done on my book in Nov. I completed the plot and wrote a 1st draft synopsis. (not an easy task). I also wrote 16k words and have found a critique group (though I’m still iffy on that a little).
3) My “friend” (he said I could call him that) Sean Lindsay at 101 Reasons to Stop Writing, posted an interview he did about NaNo and I agree pretty much with what he had to say about it. P.S. Sean was mentioned in the online New York Times which is totally cool.
So….I don’t feel too bad about not having completed 50k words. I am however still working on it. ๐
One thing that I’ve run into, though, is I recently joined Kelly Armstrong’s Online Writer’s Group. It seems like a great group and I’ve already gotten several very good critiques with good comments as well as positive criticism. One review I recieved though has me wondering how much I should take from it. I can see some very valid points in their review and those I will work on changing. But some other comments could be personal choice. They mentioned I need to “tighten” up my work and another friend mentioned the same thing. But how do you “tighten” up your work?? Anyone have any thoughts on this?