NANOWRIMO wrap-up

I finished. I rewrote my novel. Start to finish. I lifted a few thousand words, but that's it. Otherwise a total rewrite. Almost a new story.

It was harder this time. I had so many other things to do this year, and I was sick and I was taking care of sick little people, and we traveled and I was trying to finish other things I would actually get paid for.

BUT, this I will say. I am getting better. I mean it is still a piece of shit I do not think I dare show anyone, not even my beloved husband who is begging. But it is a reminder that some things you can only learn by doing. I could read a thousand novels and take a million writing classes, but it is the act of actually writing that changes you, and that makes you learn.

The thing about novels is, that process alone could take decades. Which is why I needed(need) NANOWRIMO. This year I had the events unfold in real time and added more action. It made a difference.

I still need more action, more drama, unfolding in the present tense, but it is getting there. And, yes, there are passages buried in the garbage that I actually like. I read them and I think: This is actually good. Not many. But they are there.

And through the month I tried to read really good novels. I read TC Boyle's The Women (not his best, but I liked it, and went to see Taliesin in Scottsdale again) and Barbara Kingsolver's Lacuna (in the final third, not her best, but love Frida, Diego, Trotsky, Mexico City and the Aztecs and yes, always, her writing bewitches me and I want to write down passages to savor). As I read I watched how they dealt with the problems I was facing.

Exposition woven into brief dialogue. Backstory woven into present. You don't even notice when it is done well.

Very enlightening!

To all my writing buddies who finished, and those who tried but didn't, you ALL rock for taking the challenge.

Wasn't it cool?