December is here, NaNo is over, let’s see what I managed to get done.
NaNoWriMo Goal 1: Complete Burning Sky
Even though I was already nearly halfway through writing this book, the only thing I really wanted to achieve last month was finishing it. And I did!
Day 10. 42,562 words added. Goal achieved.
But I didn’t want to stop there, so I took a day to prepare myself to start the next Dragonlands novel – and promptly jumped into an unrelated novella from a brand new series.
NaNoWriMo Goal 2: Write Thief’s Gamble
The idea of a Foundation of Aquila series has been knocking around the back of my brain for a year or two (someone asked about it on Wattpad), but I hadn’t really pinned anything down yet. Until Keo and Lahera burst into full life and took over NaNo, leaving me with a completed novella and plenty of ideas for the series to follow. This one should (hopefully) be a lot of fun. I really do need to write another Dragonlands novel first, though.
Regardless of my plans or best intentions, I finished it. And for once an attempted novella stayed an actual novella. I am all astonishment!
Day 20. 25,028 words later. Goal achieved.
Two things down and I still had nine days left. I guess that meant I could finally crack on with that Dragonlands novel.
Wrong.
NaNoWriMo Goal 3: Finish Aftermath
I fully intended to make a start on Ice Falls, I swear I did, but to be honest the last nine days of NaNo weren’t great for me. Mostly because of fatigue issues. I also don’t really have a feel for where this book is supposed to start, so I need to go back and look at the end of Burning Sky before I tackle it.
Anyway, my head was so desperate not to start Ice Falls it seized on Aftermath instead. This is an entirely self-indulgent, overblown epilogue novella for the Wingborn series, which ties up some of the romances and side characters and little things that I didn’t really have room for in the main books. It was supposed to be short and sweet and full of warm fuzziness. I originally dove straight into it after finishing Wingborn 6, but I stalled after a while and it became yet another thing I’ve struggled to finish this year.
However, NaNo was going well, so I thought, why not? Give it a go. The worst that can happen is I’ll get stuck precisely where I’ve been stuck all year.
Day 30. 19,947 words added. Goal achieved!
Three stories finished. 86,340 words written in total. Two major albatrosses released back into the wild. I can’t believe how well that went.
Although, if I look back at my daily tallies, it could have gone a little better. There were 13 days when I didn’t write a single word, and even my biggest daily haul (9135 words) is a bit below my best. I didn’t experience my usual rush of momentum where I write more and more and more as the month goes on, but that’s probably because I’m used to focusing on one project from start to finish, not jumping in halfway and finishing several things along the way.
So perhaps I could have written more, but looking back I am more than happy with how I did. Burning Sky is finally finished! A pair of new characters have established themselves in a whole new series and I’m excited to get back to them and let their story unfold. I’m also relieved that Aftermath is done, even though I acknowledge it’s no longer a novella, bonus or otherwise. But I knew that after it passed 30K, I was just living in denial. Still, it’s done, yay! And I’ll figure out what to do with it later.
For now, thanks NaNo! I don’t know why the mere thought of the challenge can break through blockages that have frustrated me all year, I’m just glad that it did. November is done. Thanks for the word count, but now it’s time to move on.
To all my fellow NaNoers, I hope you enjoyed your month and had fun with all your words. Here’s to you all! And I’ll see you again next year.
Merry December, everyone!
Becca Lusher 