07 December 2017

My NaNoWriMo 2017

Hola Lexicans! asdfghjkl ITS DECEMBER and wow i'm so excited for Christmas! I have been counting down since October and now it's finally here I actually do not feel ready at all:) But yah I'm very ready for a break from school and to just chill out. which is probably what I should be doing right now but I can't help it* So since November is now complete, I decided to sit down and write an overview of my NaNoWriMo. Originally I was also going to do a general November Recap, but really nothing much exciting happened to me during November (other than NaNo) so I thought I would just do a post focusing on that instead. So grab yourself some brownies, make yourself a cup of tea, get comfy and prepare yourself for this very chill + chatty post.

*no I'm not jumping up and down on my bed dancing to All I Want For Christmas Is You whilst periodically stopping to write this.. where on Earth did you get that idea from.....

So firstly, before I start focusing on my NaNoWriMo specifically (whilst I'm sure most of you reading this will know what NaNoWriMo is), I thought I'd explain exactly what NaNo is so it makes sense to everyone. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is a non-profit program in which bloggers and writers from all over the world come together to try and write 50,000 words in a month (November). I knew that this year 50k wasn't on my radar, so I set myself mentally a smaller goal of 25k instead, although I couldn't put that in. People talking part all come together in one amazing community doing things like word sprints, and even meeting up in their local libraries. Whilst I didn't do those things, I did feel a sense of community and just loved doing NaNo this month! So let me tell you more about it....


whilst I didn't actually take this during NaNoWriMo (no time for that!!), it's the exact spot where I spent most my evenings writing:) x

My novel..

I've talked about my novel in a couple previous posts BUT I'll just sum it up. The Coffee Shop Man (nope not going to be the name forever, it's just WIP while I think of a much better, more interesting name ahah) is a YA realistic fiction about Arthur, a 70 year old man whose life has gone to pieces. He has no family, no friends, no goals and no happiness. Everyday he wakes up at the exact same time, goes to his local coffee shop, has a black coffee and returns. Every single day he does this, this routine is really the only thing he ever does. Until one day he wakes up later, meets this young girl called Kate and is whole life changes (and then loads of plot twists happen, but even though y'all will probably never read this book.. I'm still not going to spoil it!)

The facts..

I didn't reach my goal of 25k. BUT.. I did get to 24.5k words and yES I know I was literally another 10 minutes worth of writing away and it is so frustrating oh my gosh but.. a few days before NaNoWriMo ending I was on 21.5k and for some stupid reason, past Lexie decided not to write in those last few days. Until the 30th when I decided 'I will not be able to get 25k by the end of today but I want to see just how close I can get.' so I wrote and wrote, and managed to get to about 23k when my mum came in and said 'Lexie.. time to turn off your laptop.' as I was kinda ill so she wanted me to get an early night. But as I was on a roll, I wrote more in my notebook to then type up. BUT.. since it's a notebook, there's (obviously) no word count, so I just stopped when I felt too tired.
And then I typed it up the next day and it equalled 24.5k... I was so annoyed at first but now I've got over the intial frustration I have decided that a) 24.5k is still so amazing b) I never thought I would actually get that close and c) I should be a very proud bean.

Wordiest day: November 30 - 2,816 words per day
Average per day: 818 words

Did you take part in NaNoWriMo this year? And how did you do? I think we all deserve a nice batch of brownies, and a well-deserved break after that tiring month! WELL DONE TO US!! *cheers* asdfghjkl if you did, even if you didn't get to 50k I'M SO PROUD OF YOU AHH!!!

I'll be back in a few days with a Christmas Wishlist and Teen Gift Guide:)

X


10 comments:

  1. Congrats on 24k! That’s still a lot! Also BROWNIES ARE THE BEST! :)

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    1. YES Nabila *sends virtual brownies* and thank you:)

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  2. 24k! I agree with Nabila,thats really a lot. Congratulations :') I never participated in Nanowrimos because I was never really confident in myself to be able to write 50k words in a month. But you made me realize that we can set smaller goals that would fit us. I'll definitely try to participate next year, aghhh can't wait.

    Your book sounds so interesting! I'm so curious to know who Kate is and how he changes the old man's life.

    yuki, solivagantic

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    1. awh thanks Yuki!! yes, when I first decided to do NaNo this year I knew straight away that 50,000 words was absolutely not on my agenda. Unfortunately, they haven't yet given you the feature where you can enter your own goal (although maybe they will have next year), so it still acts as if you're writing to 50k, but I knew mentally my real goal was 25k.

      Lexie x

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  3. Great job with NaNo. Even if you didn't quite make your goal, you have 24k worth of story that you didn't before and that's awesome!! Hope you have a merry Christmas relaxing from the craziness of NaNo!

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    1. Thanks Hannah, and I guess that's so true! Hope you have a lovely Christmas as well. x

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  4. It is SO exciting that a person my age participated of NaNo and WROTE 25K???? What?? That's amazing! I would love to write in the future, but at the time it is not my main focus. I love writing as well, and getting published is my dream. But do you know that feeling you get sometimes that says you will get to do something, but now is not the right time? That's me. I'm not quite there yet.

    In the meantime, I'm about to start a new Booktube channel! That's my on-going project, as well as the blog and school. Writing is at the back of my mind, but really important too.

    Your story sounds fantastic, and I'm intrigued. When you said we'd probably never get to read it, my mood fell. I was getting so excited!! Lovely post, and congratulations on all of your achievements! Thanks for stopping by my blog too! I'm glad I found yours! <3

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    1. asdfghjkl thank you Sophie!! and ahh a Booktube channel, that's so exciting - I'll def be checking it out when it launches, so let me knoew more details:)

      and aww thanks, you never know you may be able to read this novel one day, what I meant was chances are it'll never be published. But actually, I shouldn't think that way!! x

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  5. Yay congrats on doing NaNo!! I think getting ANY amount of words down is the important part and very very exciting. :D I hope you manage to finish/work on your novel more soon though. ;D It sounds like a very intriguing premise!

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    1. Yay thanks Cait and 100% true, the writing is always the hard part, I think making pretty Pinterest boards and eating snacks is definitely the best part of NaNo ahahah. x

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thanks for commenting!:)