It’s December 1st and NaNoWriMo is over. How did it go? Did you finish?
I hope you finished because I sure didn’t. I didn’t even try to finish after the second day. NaNoWriMo is not the kind of thing for me. Not because of the 50,000 word target, but because I already have a book that needs my attention and NaNoWriMo is about starting that book you have been meaning to get to or finishing that book that’s been collecting dust, half finished. I already have a rough draft of a book and I need to go into the second phase of rewriting.

I tried to write a new story. I wanted to get this story down on paper because it was distracting me from my first book. I sat down on November 1st and typed out 1200 words. It was awful. I came across details that weren’t quite ironed out. I had nowhere to go with the story. It just wasn’t as ready for paper as I thought. With my first book (which will now be referred to as Shimabara), I was inspired. I had a good idea of what I wanted. The main character was clear in my head. The story flowed out of my fingers with ease, and even though the first draft of the book was an 8 page short story written for a high school English class, I was in love with this story. I still love this story today, after all the hard days of writing a bunch of babble just to fill a page or discover characters I never intended to write.

I remember every moment of my life was consumed by Shimabara. I included so many different experiences from my life. I poured so much into it and I just didn’t have that with this new story, not yet. It needs more time to cook in my head before I can put it on paper.

So, what did I get out of NaNoWriMo without finishing?

I realized 2 things last month that I really needed to pay attention to:
1) I need to spend more time on things that will help me make money.
2) I need to spend time on Shimabara.

I was trying so hard to write a story that I could not bring myself to like. I know that all the NaNoWriMo articles talk about the crap you allowed to write during the month as long as you get something down and I cannot stand by that. I would rather spend 3 months getting down 50,000 words I like than speed through a story that isn’t ready. Plus, if I’m going to write, it should be on Shimabara.

I am also, not in a position to spend free time on a crap story. I am looking for a job, so I am spending my free time sharpening my skills for graphic design. I created a second blog just for my design interests. Perhaps next year I will have a complete book, a new job, and a second book ready for NaNoWriMo 2015. As for this year, I’m okay with bowing out.

What about my weight goal?

At the beginning of November, I posted about avoiding weight gain during NaNoWriMo. I am proud to say that I lost weight. I am now 188 lbs. by following my plan. Of course, I am going to continue my progress through the rest of the year, but it is nice to know that the plan works.

Ok, so I am done rambling on here.