So the Camp NaNoWriMo event is done and my modest goal of 30,000 words wasn’t quite met, but I still count it a success. At 17,816 words, I didn’t complete what I’d planned to accomplish, but given the life events I was dealing with, I made progress, and that’s what really counts in the end. While I won’t be giving myself any participation awards, nor be able to tout winning at the event as an accomplishment this time, I did make some good progress on the next novel’s story.
I did have angst, once again, about starting on the next novel before I have completed the first novel’s rewrite, but this time I’d decided to use the camp time to write the novel outline instead of trying to wade in directly to the second novel itself. I think I’ve resigned myself to knowing that creating the novel outline first works best for me as I can let my imagination go wild during that process. Once I have the story down, and have imagined all the twists and turns that the plot will take, I can then use that outline as my guide to do the real work of making the novel come to life.
Let’s face it,…writing a novel is a lot of work, and doing it part time, after working a full time job, is a challenge at times. I found that in this Camp NaNoWriMo event, I was disappointed that I didn’t make my goal, but I also cut myself a little slack as there were a number of things going on at work and home that needed to be dealt with. I’ve started to realize that this is the reality of my situation and I just have to do the best I can. It may take me a bit longer to write novels, but I’m not doing it full time, so that’s just the way it is. I’m not going to allow this to be a reason to procrastinate, as that’s not acceptable, but completing each project is going to take some time.
I’d love, someday, to be able to write full time, as an occupation, but you need to have some measure of success to get to that level. As I haven’t even gotten my first novel out there yet, that’s nowhere in my reality. Even when I”m able to release “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.“, the odds of it becoming a worldwide best seller are pretty slim, but I’d be happy with even modest sales for my first work, God willing. Now I need to finish the first novel, so I”m switching back to finishing the 2nd draft re-write, beginning with page 159. Only about 120 pages left, and then I’ll need to decide if I’ll use a profession proofreader or not.
So I don’t consider my time at camp a total crash and burn, just a crash with no casualties, after I’d driven for awhile and gotten closer to my destination. My next post will be on the re-write progress, as that’s my only writing job until it’s done.
“Burt’s Bots” Novel progress at Camp NaNoWriMo:
Outline: 17.816 words
Novel 1st Draft: 13,367 (no work done on this at camp)
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress:
1st Draft Novel: 78,198 words