The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for November 2009 ended and after a week of wondering (‘cause I was too chicken), I added up my words: 9,846. Not the “required” 50,000 word goal but I was pleased anyway. What I wanted was to jump start my next novel. And I did.

I fussed with the format, edited a bit each day, started a playlist to write by, did research on my characters and settings – actually, I spent time on much of what we weren’t supposed to spend time doing. But I didn’t want just a really rough draft at the end of the month. I wanted something of substance that I could use. And I’ve learned from other writing projects that I work in fits and spurts, I love research, and I write out of sequence. That’s my writing style, part of my process.

Now, almost a month later, I’m still writing that same novel and set a goal of 10,000 words for December. I’m a few thousand words shy as I write this but the month isn’t over yet.

So I count my first NaNoWriMo as a success. I was able to establish characters, setting, voice, format and point of view. I also learned a bit more about how to juggle writing with my life since November, and now, December, are often about family visits, shopping, entertaining and, well, all the stuff that comes with the holidays.

Something else happened during NaNoWriMo: because the first couple weeks were very focused on quickly establishing good bones for a story, I dug deeper into my life experiences than in my other writing. Consequently, I feel this new novel is better for it. There’s a rawness, a truthfulness that’s not nearly as strong in my first novel – a manuscript written over a somewhat leisurely twelve months.

So, come next year, I think I’ll do it again. I’m actually excited about what new insights I’ll discover about my  writing. And, at the very least, I’ll have a few thousand words toward a new novel. Not a bad way to spend the days of November.