So It Ends.....

Dixiegirl — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:00:20 +0000

At midnight tonight the bell tolls on another NaNoWriMo year. And as always, once it ends there is this sense that something is missing or that I've lost something important. In a way maybe I do. The removal of the pressure of having to write every single day is the first thing you notice. You kind of sit in a mental fugue where your mind feels like it is supposed to be somewhere else but isn't and is confused by it. You notice that people you were in contact with nearly every day seem to kind of fade away, not disappear completely but mostly. You don't get those 'You can do it!' emails that get you through the next 1667 words and beyond. You begin to feel bereft. For me there is the added loss of write-ins. While only a few meetings had a half dozen attendees, it is kind of nice to sit down and write with like minded people. A common goal that links you to another human being. And you get a good dose of laughter and conversation with it. It's a good feeling. I'll miss those. Overall, it is the sense of community that pulls one along during the month and it is this sense of community I find myself missing the most every year. Visiting the forums on the last day is very sad in some ways. You really probably won't be back until next year. But things happen and you might not be able to come back. Or something may happen to some of them and they won't be back. You think about it all that last day. And for the month of December, you feel it. There is the sense of success in the knowledge that I've written 50,000 words of a novel. But there is an impending sense that if I don't do something with it I'll lose something else. I don't know what the magic of NaNoWriMo really is. I don't what pulls us back to it every year. All I know is that for me, it is a place that comes around only once a year where I can do things I might not have done otherwise. I can go places in my mind that are only limited by my imagination. I can meet people I might never have met. I can laugh more than I have ever laughed. Then, in 30 days, its gone. {I posted this on my blog this morning but felt that this might be a good place for it as well. So I'm sharing.}

Re: So It Ends.....

Carolf — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:07:20 +0000

Well said. I'm hoping that some of us stick around throughout the year, but I know it won't be the same.

November Ends ... but the friendships don't

Kat Gentian — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:23:57 +0000

Nice, Dixie. There is always that sense of let down when December comes and the crowds in the forums are reduced to just a few stubborn folk. You've expressed it well.

Re: So It Ends.....

Catana — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:57:15 +0000

I don't do much of the social stuff--just post in the forums and drop encouraging emails to some of my writing buddies. For me, it's all about the writing, and what I feel at the end is just plain old-fashioned fatigue. Right now, I'm in a slump that comes after the finish of any major project. I pulled myself out of it this morning to do something that was nagging at me. I had finished my novel just short of 74k and stopped writing, and it bugged me. Since I'll be adding another 10k or so when I get around to the editing, I decided to fill in a few thin spots now, add another 250 words or so and end with a nice round 74k. It sounds silly, but it gave me a sense of completion that I needed. I do stick around on the forums, but less and less as the year goes by. I'll be keeping an eye out to see if I have an idea and the time for Camp NaNoWriMo in June.

Re: So It Ends.....

Kopiluwak — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:01:19 +0000

Nicely written, Dixie. I know many groups try to keep things going throughout the year with monthly meet-ups and write-ins, with NaNoEdMo, with FB groups, and so on. I'm one of the ones who leaves NaNo after the TGIO parties and I don't return until October. I don't stop writing, and I'm lucky to have connected with a group of local writers who keep writing all year round and I've always lived among the company of authors (I host a 3 day party once a year for 60 or so of my favorite authors), so the writing experience for me isn't limited to November and the NaNo community. For me, the end of NaNo isn't a sadness so much as it is a nagging worry that some of the friends I made during NaNo won't be back next year, especially the ones in this age group. I'll never know what happened to some of them, they fell off the pixels of the internet, never re-upped at NaNo. Did they decide they'd written all they need to write? Did they have other activities come up - ones that are even more fun? Did something dreadful happen to them and they're too sad to write? Did they - die? The suggestion to create a Facebook group for the Smoking Pen relieves some of that worry - we'll be in touch all year long, writing or not writing.

Re: So It Ends.....

writerwoman — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:19:00 +0000

I'm definitely going to miss the camaraderie and some of the great silliness of writing with thousands of writers all at the same time. I'm a true NaNo Geek now! Thanks for all the sharing!

Re: So It Ends.....

Auld Soul — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:53:36 +0000

Nicely worded, Dixie. As November 30th draws to a close, I always feel let down. I still have a lot of work to do on my novel, but without that 'have to, must do' feeling, my procrastination kicks in and I find it very difficult to write. I should pop in occasionally, and certainly long before next October, but I'll think about that tomorrow, or even later than that. All the best to everyone whether you're planning on finishing your novels, hoping to have them published, or embarking on other writing projects.

Re: So It Ends.....

GeneGenie — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:59:32 +0000

Whooo Dixie...Whoooo NANO a bitter sweet time for all. This year I came as close as anytime to quiting, I didn't even have an idea until day four, then my cat died, then my daughter was sick etc. It may sound odd, but then I told myself I did it in 2006. That was the year both my parents died,( My Dad in the very middle of Nov) and the rest of my so called family turned their backs on me. So with a lot of nagging from my husband and a reminder before me how bad life can get I dug into my really old stories from way back and found one and without any real heart in it and plodded on and in a way THAT is what NANO is all about . Keeping going no matter what life throws just word after word (including a few tricks ; )...Music Hall visit with a sing along.) Until that purple banner is reached, and a big slice of choc cake as a reward. So it's not an end just... 'til next time.

Re: So It Ends.....

RutaBaker — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:58:33 +0000

I always feel let down at the end of each NaNo. I'm one of the diehards that visits the site and this forum year 'round. Hope to 'see' some of you dropping by for visits befpore next november.

Re: So It Ends.....

Generalist — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:24:54 +0000

I'm one of the year rounders. I heard about NaNoWriMo back in 2008 or 2009, when dropping by a book store and listening to a conversation with the person at the cash register. I joined the site in May 2010 and decided to do a test run to see if writing by hand was possible. I discovered Lazette Gifford's "NaNo for the New and the Insane" and learned about the Phase Outline. With about a week until June, I wrote my first Phase Outline and then started a practice NaNo on June 1. The test was a success. I wrote 70K words, by hand, starting at the beginning of the story. I had never been able to do this before. I continued at a slower rate until the end of September, when I brought the story to an end and started preparing for my first official NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo has been a life changing experience. I'm hoping to take the 2011 story all the way to publication, once I finish the draft and all the editing.

Re: So It Ends.....

Carolf — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:13:44 +0000

[quote=Generalist] I'm one of the year rounders. I heard about NaNoWriMo back in 2008 or 2009, when dropping by a book store and listening to a conversation with the person at the cash register. I joined the site in May 2010 and decided to do a test run to see if writing by hand was possible. I discovered Lazette Gifford's "NaNo for the New and the Insane" and learned about the Phase Outline. With about a week until June, I wrote my first Phase Outline and then started a practice NaNo on June 1. The test was a success. I wrote 70K words, by hand, starting at the beginning of the story. I had never been able to do this before. I continued at a slower rate until the end of September, when I brought the story to an end and started preparing for my first official NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo has been a life changing experience. I'm hoping to take the 2011 story all the way to publication, once I finish the draft and all the editing. [/quote] "NaNo for the New and Insane?" Phase outline? Can you point me to these? They sound interesting.

Re: So It Ends.....

Dixiegirl — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:52:05 +0000

Giffords book is really good and I think it is free on her site. Really helpful. I got it a couple of years ago.

Re: So It Ends.....

Kopiluwak — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:52:43 +0000

Wow, GeneGenie, it sounds like you had a rough time! I'm glad you made it, and isn't Lazette awesome?

Giffords Book download

Dixiegirl — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:54:10 +0000

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84837

Re: So It Ends.....

DreamingOn — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:17:00 +0000

And Camp NaNoWriMo is in June right?

Re: So It Ends.....

Dixiegirl — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:40:59 +0000

Camp NaNoWriMo is from June 1 -August 31

Re: So It Ends.....

tzor — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:34:50 +0000

I'm already suffering from post NaNoWriMo stress disorder. I'm going to ease off of it; I figure I will pump out about a dozen articles on Gather trying to explain elements of my novel. I might even do a little editing in January, but I doubt it.

Re: So It Ends.....

mlhh39 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:03:40 +0000

Nicely said, Dixie. I stay so busy writing, I didn't even know you could get into the NaNo site during the year. I'll try to check in now and then before next November.