NaNo Recap: Triumph or Fail?

As I mentioned in this post, I decided to try my hand at NaNo at the last minute. It was completely unofficial. I didn't sign in to the NaNoWrimo site. Hell, I didn't even put up a progress bar. I did it unofficially because I anticipated being pulled away to work on something else at any moment....but I still wanted to write. I needed to write.

I got about 5K into another rock star romance novella before, sure enough, I remembered a friend's birthday was coming up, so I had to work on a portrait of his favorite IRON MAIDEN album cover.

I'd lost my 6B pencil, but I found it so I gotta shade it in more.

And of course since it's November, I ended up with a terrible cold that lasted nearly 2 weeks...while I was working on the portrait. 

After I finished it, I lost grasp on the former project. But I still wanted to write. So I decided to be evil and write the opening of the 4th book in my urban fantasy series that one of my betas had been begging for. I sent her the first few paragraphs. Yeah, she wants more. And I would have given it to her.

But then my editor asked for the concepts of my next 2 books. I've never written a synopsis for a book I hadn't written, and now I had to do 2. EEEEK! 

After much stressing, I pulled it off, and it was fun! I like these stories and can't wait to write them! Hell, I already got started before I heard back.

Thankfully, she LOVED them! 

So, I wrote approximately 11K for NaNoWriMo...not only did I fail to get the requisite 50K, but it was on 4 different projects.

But I think I still WON because I was WRITING. And I have the beginnings of many pleasant journeys before me.

What do you think. Did you do NaNo? How did it turn out for you this year?

Why I'm doing NaNo this year....sorta.

In the last few weeks I've discovered a small (thankfully temporary) downside to getting a book deal: the "not writing" part. While waiting to begin edits on my novel, I occupied myself with research and notes for subsequent books in the series...but I don't want to go too far and fall in love with an idea only to have my editor not like it. I've also been working at keeping up with my social networking, which thanks to all you awesome people, doesn't really feel like work. But...I MISS writing! I miss bringing characters and adventures to life on the page.

So...mere hours before it started, I've decided to unofficially do NaNoWrimo. I'm doing another novella in my rock star series. Like my last one, it's a pure guilty pleasure project. I've had the premise and some fun scenes floating in my head for months and NaNo gave me the perfect excuse to indulge myself.

In summary, this project is pure playtime in which I give myself full permission to write junk and have fun with obvious and not so obvious references to both fiction and the heavy metal subculture. I.E. In the real world, there's a "Big Six" in publishing and the "Big Four" in Thrash metal. In my fictional world, I have a "Big Six" in thrash metal, LOL. I also named the band in this project, Vishӧus. ;)

Taking great hair and great music to the next level? How can I resist?

But as I have no idea where and if this series would fit in the market, I am not that emotionally invested in it. When the time comes to get back to work on BITE ME, YOUR GRACE, I can close this document without regret.

Because I now realize what NaNoWrimo is all about. Getting writers doing what they do best: WRITING.