I wrapped up 51,601 words on November 26th, well ahead of the deadline. As I was working on the difficult muddy middle of my final novel, I chose not to push past the 50,000 words as I’ve done in the past.

Next year, I’ll likely return to NaNoWriMo beginnings with a fresh novel to tear through.

How did I do this year? Novel-wise, I worked out a lot of plot issues and yet there’s a lot that needs clarity. Writing every day was possible, and I could hit the daily goal in about the 1-1.5 hour timeframe. While I haven’t measured my first attempt (when I wasn’t yet back in the reserves and sans children), it took me much longer to reach that goal. I’d say it was much closer to double that, about 2-3 hours to achieve. Is that because I became a faster writer in a decade? Not at all. It’s an effect of being comfortable with writing and less with obsessing over the details. I’m also comfortable with revision—seeing my messy draft allows me to grasp the whole and begin to rearrange the parts into something much more cohesive.

I rocketed past half a million words early in the month. I will need half again as many. If I only did NaNoWriMo, that would be at least another decade. In reality, I’m certain to hit that in another couple of years.

I’m eager to finish my first series. I have two new series projects in the wings I’d love to get started on, but I don’t have bandwidth to work on multiple projects at the same level. I need to clear my mind in December and write something new before tackling the rough draft and start the long process of the revision.

Socially, I only visited the NaNoWriMo website once a day, and the forums only a handful of times. I’m not the kind of person who needs external motivation or a social atmosphere to write. There are a lot that do—particularly new writers who need others confidence to write for themselves. I’m also not a write-in person, not because I’m asocial/anti-social, but because I prefer to sit with the story inside my head and get it onto the page. Writing is a solitary process for me.

When I started out doing NaNoWriMo, I spent a fair amount of time on the forums, mostly in the Reference Desk and Science Fiction genre sections. It was something for me to do after I’d reached my daily goal. I only think that’s changed in the last few years as I went from hobby writing to professional writing. I enjoy the forums, but now that little voice in my head echoes ‘I should write something’ whenever I browse too long on the forums.

And, for fun, it’s nice to know I’m using the same computer since I published my first novel, but not the one I did my first NaNoWriMo on. My eldest daughter is interested in writing—I released my latest novel and first military science fiction novel this month, and I helped her write her first story, ‘The Cat Journey’.

How did you do this year? Did you make it to 50,000 words and beyond?

You can find me on nanowrimo.org as zenken.