Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? I did. I used every spare moment to escape to the keyboard and pound out some words. My family was very understanding, thankfully.

Writing can feel so selfish at times. It is a solitary journey and when you have a family that you only see for a few hours  a day it can seem almost hostile to insist that you have to disappear for an hour or so. With NaNoWriMo, at least there was the excuse that it was just for the month. That there was an end on sight, that this was temporary, made all the difference.

With a goal of writing as much as possible during the month, I knew I needed a plan. Writers are generally categorized as either plotter or pantsers. Plotters develop characters, story arches, plot and themes before ever typing their opening line. Pantsers are writers who do not have a plan, but just want to see what happens as they go. Story telling “by the seat of their pants” A.K.A. pantsers.

Everything I had read or listened to lately had said that the secret to writing well and fast was to have a well outlined plan before starting. To be a plotter.

It made sense to me, so I bought the book Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker.  I found it really helpful. This was my second year participating in NaNoWriMo and I DOUBLED my word count! I think that is quite the endorsement for trying to do as much ground work before hand.

Now that the month is over, I want to keep up my writing. I am not done with my rough draft yet. Yes, I doubled my word count from last year, but I still have some work to do! With the holidays and all that goes with them, I am glad I don’t have a solid deadline for my book hanging over me. However, I do not want to get in the habit writing less and less or start skipping days. The characters are fresh and living to me right now, and I know the longer I spend away from them the harder it get to resurrect them each time I sit down.