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After NaNoWriMo: A
Wrap-Up
By Jodi Brandon
Well, now that I’ve had some time to reflect on the craziness of November, I can honestly say that I’m happier with this year’s work than last year’s. It’s nowhere near publishable – yet, anyway – but it is a decent first draft. Who knows when I’ll look at it again, since I’ve already moved onto other writing projects, but I made a promise to myself that I will take out my manuscript and my notes after the new year and do some editing and revising. (Take this with a grain of salt, though: I made the same promise last year and never kept it. Maybe that should be my mid-year goal?) I’m not calling it a New Year’s resolution, per se, because my track record of keeping those is something I should be ashamed of.
In a perfect world, I would’ve found a main character earlier, done more outlining and plot planning, and stocked more coffee to get me through. I managed to do okay, though: Kate turned out to be a heck of a protagonist, and she took me on the journey, rather than the other way around – which I think is how it should be, to tell you the truth. I never would’ve predicted that at the beginning of the month, but I’m glad I listened to Kate’s voice and let her dictate where the story went. There were some tough, slow days, but it was worth it to cross the 50,000-word mark with something that I think has potential.
As pleased as I am with my own “success” (defined by meeting my word-count goal as well as being pleased with the text I’ve produced), I’m thrilled to report that one of the Philly sub-groups, which met for a weekly write-in in King of Prussia (home of the big mall, to all of you shoppers), plans to continue meeting to discuss writing, works-in-progress, and life. As a member of a writing group – as I’m sure many of you are – I can’t tell you how important I think this is. Writing is such a solitary profession, and one that most people don’t understand, so it’s nice to have others to see socially as well as “talk shop” with. It’s easy, as a writer, to hole up in an office (real or makeshift) and write the time away. My husband will tell you that there have been times when I’ve left my office only for emergencies (read: more coffee and bathroom breaks) for days on end, not speaking to anyone, let alone seeing anyone in person. This is not good – for me or my marriage! Having a community of fellow writers who understand the lifestyle (and all that comes with it) is vital; it’s made a huge difference for me, personally and professionally, and I hope the same is true of the King of Prussia folks.
Only 11 months and 3 weeks until NaNoWriMo 2004 – I hope you’ll join me and all the other WriMos. I’ll let you know then if I kept my resolution!
Visit Jodi L. Brandon's site at www.jbedit.com.
Visit NaNoWriMo at http://www.nanowrimo.org/.
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