NaNoWriMo 2014

This year I participated in National Novel Writing Month otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, and I won.  For the first time, I succeeded at writing 50,000 words of a novel in one Month.  Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds, and there were moments that I didn’t think I would have any ideas, and even some moments where I thought I wouldn’t catch up, but I did.

Doing NaNoWriMo, though, taught me, or at least reminded me, of some things that I thought I’d share with you.

1.  I waste a lot of time– Not only did I write 50,000 words in November, but I also kept up with my blog, kept my 40+ hour job going, had thanksgiving with my family, went out with friends, and read five books, and kept up with the two shows I care about at the moment, Doctor Who and Selfie.  I also worked on photos, Christmas presents, and other general household chores.  The one thing that didn’t really happen is laundry.  But basically what I learned is that somehow all the time I used to accomplish all those things seems to disappear in any other month, and in a way where I have nothing to show for it.
2.  If it’s really important to me, I’ll make time for it–  I carved out time everywhere to make my novel writing happen.  I brain stormed in the car and shower and as I drifted off to sleep.  I wrote as soon as I was awake and as soon as I got home and sometimes used my lunch hour as well.  I made time for it, because it was important to me to finish.
3. I am competitive– It wasn’t even a competition where one person won, but because you could say “I won NaNoWriMo” at the end of the month, I stuck with it.  I wanted to win, and so I did.
4. When you tell others about something, it will make you accountable–  The only other time I’ve officially done NaNoWriMo was in 2009 and I didn’t win.  The biggest difference I think was that I told people this time around what I was doing. I talked about it with friends and family and that fueled me to finish.  I didn’t want to be the person that had to tell people I didn’t make my deadline.
5. Doing more than expected makes things easier-  It’s easy to say “I did what I had to” for the day, but when I only wrote the amount of words I had to write, the next morning I woke up under the wire and a little fearful that I would hit writer’s block that day.  It was when I went over and above the minimum word count that I felt freedom to be creative and not chained to a word count.  It felt good the next day that I was writing to write.  Granted I was chasing after my word count full steam the last week (one day I had to write 5,000 words just to have the chance of catching up), but at the beginning, when I stayed ahead of the game, that’s when it was easiest.

These were the lessons I was reminded of during my writing stint.  I’m hoping to keep these in mind as I go into the new year with goals and expectations for what I want to accomplish in 2015.

So did anyone else do NaNoWriMo this year and learn some lessons?  Or have other creative endeavors this year caused you to pause and take in a reminder about life and who you are?  I’d love to hear your life lessons from 2014 below.