NaNoWriMo

What an amazing experience.  Spending 30 days writing a brand new Novel with a target of 50,000 words and completion by midnight local time on the 30th day!

Typing was part of my life in my former career and now I am in a position to do something I love dearly which is writing.  My creative work during this process of NaNoWriMo was carried out by handwriting and each day my story fell into place onto paper.  I loved that while creating I was not sitting on a computer chair at my PC but rather in a relaxed environment as my characters came to life.  It is almost as if I regard typing in the legal world in which I was involved for many years, as a left brained function, whereas my creativity came into being with a pen in hand - as one's creativity with art comes from a paintbrush in one's hand.

For each of the 30 days I made a separate file which was really helpful.  However, when I actually wrote the last word of my end scene I had exactly 28 files into which I had put my story.

However, I particularly wanted to download a typed version of my Novel and spent the last 2 days of my deadline typing up over 50,000 words and that proved hectic.

In future my creative process will come from working on my laptop.  I have to make the transition to see a laptop not as a business tool, which has been my past experience, but rather a tool for my imagination to enter into the amazing world of a writer.

As this was my first time ever entering NaNoWriMo I am so absolutely thrilled I accomplished what I set out to do.

We are approaching holiday time in South Africa, and I plan to enjoy a holiday with my family and to have leisurely days of reading which is regarded as important for any author.  After the holiday it will be edit time which I am looking forward to very much.

To anyone who wants to try NaNoWriMo in a future year, I would say Go For It!  What a wonderful sense of achievement I feel!