NaNoWriMo Follow-Up

So my goal for November was to write 10,000 words into my new novella.  All I can say is: FAIL!

In my defense, I actually started out pretty well.  I was writing every day and it felt kind of nice.  And then... I hit a wall.  It got to the point where I knew exactly where the story was headed but I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to get there.  For two days I tried to work through it by just writing down whatever with the intention of going back and fixing it.

But then I had a wake up call.  After the second day's attempt, I thought to myself: "Wait a minute... I hate forcing plots and writing whatever garbage comes to mind."  I mean, it was for that exact reason that I decided to not major in Literature in college.  I knew I would get burnt out if I was constantly required to churn out what was, in my mind, sub-par work.

So I put the novella aside for a little while to let it marinade.  But it wasn't a totally unproductive month!  Here's the tally:


  • 3,000 words into new novella
  • 2,000 word short story written and published
  • 1,000 word description for sci-fi blog written and published as free ebook
  • 2 short flash fiction stories for new collection I've slowing been putting together
  • 300 more words into non-fiction ebook I've been putting together
  • Numerous blogs
So I was just shy of 10,000 words.  Whatever.  I feel no remorse!

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