Kim Golden's Blog - Posts Tagged "what-were-the-chances"
I lost at NaNoWriMo but I'm still a winner
I’M A NANOWRIMO LOSER THIS YEAR
Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo, and, unlike last year, I didn’t manage to finish on time.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, this has not been the best year for me: I lost several people who meant a lot to me, including my younger brother. His passing hit me hardest. For months after his passing, I was unable to write any fiction. The only thing that seemed to help me find my writing mojo again was grief counseling.
I was hoping that this autumn would be calmer than last year. I managed to finish NaNoWriMo on time last year–despite dealing with work-related stress and losing a close friend.
SO WHAT WAS DIFFERENT THIS YEAR?
Well, I was working this year and searching for a new job since the temporary position I should have had until February ended early due to the company going bankrupt and then being bought by a new owner who changed the company’s focus area. Also, I was working on a freelance project that ended up taking a bit longer than initially planned. So job hunting and freelancing ate into some of my NaNoWriMo writing time. Even though I managed to get my morning writing done, my evening sessions were not as productive because I was also revising my CV, updating and customizing cover letters, and then reworking copy for my freelance project.
I STILL FEEL LIKE A WINNER
But…despite everything, despite not being anywhere near done and being able to officially declare myself a NaNoWriMo winner, I still feel like a winner.
For the first time in months, I have managed to write every single day and make significant progress on a project. I have close to 30,000 words written. And I wrote them in thirty days. Sure, it’s super rough and needs a hell of a lot of tweaking to get it right. This time last month, I hadn’t written more than 2000 words in a month.
SO WHAT’S NEXT?
I will keep working on What Were the Chances…? It will be part of a new series, set entirely in Stockholm, called Love in Stockholm (which I’ve told you about before because last year’s NaNoWriMo-winning novel is also part of that series). Tomorrow I’ll continue working on the story and hopefully have a quick and dirty rough draft done by the end of the month.
Other projects that I am working on include finally compiling Near Enough to Hold into one volume. It’ll be going to my beta readers soon for feedback on how to finetune it before I then rework it, send it to my editor, and then publish it. In the meantime, the serial version of it will be leaving Kindle Unlimited very soon.
I’m also still working on finishing a couple of other projects which I’d started already back in 2017 but–due to all the shit I was going through at my previous job–I just couldn’t finish back then. My goal moving forward is to finally finish them. I am tired of having so many unfinished projects and feeling stalled.
I do feel like I’ve finally emerged from (or at least emerging from) the fog of grief and depression. Some days are better than others, but at least I remember what I love about writing, and I want to write again.
So, even though I officially lost NaNoWriMo, for me, I’ve won.
Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo, and, unlike last year, I didn’t manage to finish on time.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, this has not been the best year for me: I lost several people who meant a lot to me, including my younger brother. His passing hit me hardest. For months after his passing, I was unable to write any fiction. The only thing that seemed to help me find my writing mojo again was grief counseling.
I was hoping that this autumn would be calmer than last year. I managed to finish NaNoWriMo on time last year–despite dealing with work-related stress and losing a close friend.
SO WHAT WAS DIFFERENT THIS YEAR?
Well, I was working this year and searching for a new job since the temporary position I should have had until February ended early due to the company going bankrupt and then being bought by a new owner who changed the company’s focus area. Also, I was working on a freelance project that ended up taking a bit longer than initially planned. So job hunting and freelancing ate into some of my NaNoWriMo writing time. Even though I managed to get my morning writing done, my evening sessions were not as productive because I was also revising my CV, updating and customizing cover letters, and then reworking copy for my freelance project.
I STILL FEEL LIKE A WINNER
But…despite everything, despite not being anywhere near done and being able to officially declare myself a NaNoWriMo winner, I still feel like a winner.
For the first time in months, I have managed to write every single day and make significant progress on a project. I have close to 30,000 words written. And I wrote them in thirty days. Sure, it’s super rough and needs a hell of a lot of tweaking to get it right. This time last month, I hadn’t written more than 2000 words in a month.
SO WHAT’S NEXT?
I will keep working on What Were the Chances…? It will be part of a new series, set entirely in Stockholm, called Love in Stockholm (which I’ve told you about before because last year’s NaNoWriMo-winning novel is also part of that series). Tomorrow I’ll continue working on the story and hopefully have a quick and dirty rough draft done by the end of the month.
Other projects that I am working on include finally compiling Near Enough to Hold into one volume. It’ll be going to my beta readers soon for feedback on how to finetune it before I then rework it, send it to my editor, and then publish it. In the meantime, the serial version of it will be leaving Kindle Unlimited very soon.
I’m also still working on finishing a couple of other projects which I’d started already back in 2017 but–due to all the shit I was going through at my previous job–I just couldn’t finish back then. My goal moving forward is to finally finish them. I am tired of having so many unfinished projects and feeling stalled.
I do feel like I’ve finally emerged from (or at least emerging from) the fog of grief and depression. Some days are better than others, but at least I remember what I love about writing, and I want to write again.
So, even though I officially lost NaNoWriMo, for me, I’ve won.
