NaNoWriMo 2021. A failure?

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I participated in NaNoWriMo this year—as I have just about every year since around 2013. Some NaNo are more successful than others. And I know writing a 50k novel in a month isn’t for everyone.

To be completely honest, it isn’t always for me either.

Up until 2019, I’d generally done fairly well with NaNoWriMo.

2019 threw a lot of curveballs at my husband and me. It was a rough year. And I remember going into 2020 thinking that I hoped it would be a better year. Shall we all laugh at my poor ‘sweet summer child’ self? Better to laugh than cry, I suppose.

2019, 2020, and now 2021.

All three years that I suppose have technically been a NaNo failure. I haven’t hit the 50k goal. I got closer this year than I did the past two, so that’s something.

The difference this year is I feel better about what I accomplished. I went into November with the hopes of hitting 30k. I’d have been thrilled with 40k and stunned if I hit the 50k. I was about 1k short of 30k so I consider that a win.

Listen, if you wrote anything during a globally traumatic event, I think you deserve a medal. It is incredibly difficult to accomplish creative endeavours with so much pulling at our minds. So I’m celebrating my 29k words.

It’s 29k that I didn’t have at the beginning of November. It’s over halfway through a fun cozy mystery that I am thoroughly enjoying writing. And it’s taken less time than my last WIP, which took over four months to write.

Maybe the biggest lesson for me through the last two years is to give myself space and time.

Also, celebrate even the smallest wins.

And when all else fails, there’s always chocolate.

I’m just saying.

How about you? Did you take part in NaNo this year?

What have I learned?

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What I learned while writing Poisoned Primrose?

1. To love writing again. And that was a doozy.

2. How to effectively use an outline as a pantser.

3. The importance of falling in love with your characters.

4. Finding that one character who fires up your soul to tell their story.

5. To keep notes on every detail of a character and the people around them for a book series.

Coming up with a Title

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It’s always fun to share the process of coming up with a title.

Primrose Poison definitely didn’t start there.

First, I had:

1. Under the Hedge

2. The Daffodil Murder

3. Lost in the Daffodils

4. Primrose Poise

5. Forgotten in the Foliage (I still kinda like this one.)

And then, at the VERY last minute, we changed it once again to Poisoned Primrose. =)

NaNoWriMo 2019

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Post National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I’m often drained and exhausted. And while, I found myself tire and definitely in need of a break in December. It wasn’t the same.

I didn’t feel defeated or emotionally wrung out like I did in 2017 or 2018.

This NaNo, I reveled in writing for the first time in over twelve months.

Between November 2018 and November 2019, only two things changed. I wrote a story I’d wanted to write for over a year and a half. But more importantly, I had more of an outline than I’d ever used before.

I read (well, skimmed) Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. I used a bastardized version of the beat sheet to time my chapters out. And I found it helped a great deal with pacing and not writing too quickly (one of my greatest sins as an author.)

I also outlined the who, what, where, why and when. I didn’t actually have an outline so much as putting down the details for the victim, several suspects, and the killer. It helped keep track of them all, which is important in a cosy mystery.

What I also enjoyed was writing an autistic, asexual main character who happened to have an asexual love interest. I’m going to enjoy exploring their connection more as the series continues.

I had the most enjoyable experience with NaNo ever.

And I definitely believe it showed on the page.

Did you take part in NaNo?

The Joy of Writing

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The one word that epitomizes Pure Dumb Luck is fun. Definitely. 100%. Fun.

And I definitely made that decision consciously.

The first two novels I wrote in 2019 were emotionally heavy. One was a nightmare to write from conception to the last word. I desperately wanted/needed to enjoy the process of writing again.

Woody and Eddie are the epitome of a Rom-Com. While writing, I definitely visualized the entire story as a movie. Pure Dumb Luck—coming to a theatre near you—I wish.

Sadly, we’ll have to settle for the written word.

It was lines like this that had me laughing constantly.

“What’s a blowjob on the baseball scale of sex?” Woody followed Eddie down the trail. They had four more miles to go before they hit their first campsite of the hike. “Third?”

“Two balls and a strike .”

There are so many moments in the novella that had me chuckling (and wondering if my editor would make me rewrite them.)

She didn’t, thankfully.

I might’ve had to fight her to keep my precious moments of silly humour together.

Do you love a good Rom-Com?