Done! NaNoWriMo 2019 is over. I’m happy with my performance, but a bit disappointed that I didn’t finish, i.e. write “The End”, on any of the three novels I wrote during November.
I reached my personal goal of 150,000 words written on the three novels during November 2019. And I will continue writing on those three novels until I reach the end of the final scene in each one. That is my December 2019 goal.
I will begin editing those novels, one by one, in January 2020 with the goal of handing one of them over to my editor by the first of March 2020. My hopes are to publish that novel by June 2020.
This year, for NaNoWriMo, I went in with the mindset that writing is my job. I created a schedule for myself and a word count goal that I had to reach each day. I gave myself Thanksgiving off, although I did write in the car on the way to the family Thanksgiving celebration and on the way to the condo my husband, Henry, and I reserved for our post-Thanksgiving getaway. I need to ask for a backlit keyboard for my tablet. Hint, hint, Henry!
Now that it’s December, I am continuing my writing schedule, although I am cutting back a bit as it is December and I haven’t deep cleaned my house yet for the holidays. Yes, one of my splurges (if my books sell) is to hire a maid service for holiday cleaning.
If you ask me now what I do, I will tell you that I am an author, a writer. I am no longer an aspiring author or want to be writer. I am, for now, an indie author. Perhaps in the future, I’ll get picked up by a publisher. I’m not going to obsess over indie versus traditional publishing.
Frankly, the thought of publishing my books scares the hell out of me. It’s quite frightening to think of my words in the hands of others. But the thought excites me too. I want others to love my characters, or hate my villains, as much as I do. I want readers to picture themselves walking down the street in the towns that I create in my mind.
I am going to publish my books. My goal is to publish the three novels from NaNoWriMo 2019 sometime in 2020.
It’s almost time to leave for my region’s post-NaNoWriMo Thank Goodness It’s Over Party at the library. Our favorite librarian is sneaking us in. OK, she’s not really sneaking us in. We’re on the schedule of events at the library. But the library is closed for the day, so it feels like we’re sneaking in.
If you wrote during NaNoWriMo 2019, did you win? Are you going to write more in December, taking off until January, or waiting until next November to write?