It took until the last day, but I’ve done it! I’m not exactly surprised - I’ve known I was capable from three other years of winning. That’s not to say that the achievement is any less exciting!!! And I have Timeline-B of Cathedral fully drafted now!!! Exciting!!!
Now, on December 1st, it’s time to reflect on what went well, what didn’t, what I’ve learned from my 2019 Nanowrimo experience, and where I’m going from here. (I’ll tell you one thing - no more Nano means more activity on this blog, so look forward to that!)
Stats, analysis, and reflection below the cut. Also tagging my Cathedral peeps so they know what kind of content they can be expecting in the coming weeks.
As you can see, I was only on track 11 out of 30 days. That was a new experience for me. Every other Nano, I’ve attempted to write 2k per day, to create at least a slight buffer. That wasn’t quite feasible this year, primarily due to my workload at school. It cost me a lot at first to admit there were days I couldn’t write, because despite preaching the impracticality of that “tip” every other month of the year, during Nano, I’m just as susceptible.
It turned out pretty well though, and I stopped worrying so much, mostly thanks to Day Eight, my third most productive day with 4,858 words written. That “catch-up” day showed me that as long as I took advantage of the days I didn’t have much homework and was in a “writing mindset,” I could easily afford myself some days with no writing whatsoever. I didn’t write anything 6 out of 30 days. And you know what? It turned out fine. I didn’t just finish the 50k goal - I finished the entire timeline. (Granted, it was only about 1k more… But still.)
What I Learned About Writing
Even during Nano, I’m perfectly capable of achieving my goals without writing every single day. All the more reason to give the middle finger to that stress-inducing piece of “advice.”
That being said, on the days when I do write during Nano, I should maintain my personal goal of 2k. I kind of slacked off on that this year and stopped right at the Nano-prescribed goal of 1,667. This made it easier to fall behind and harder to catch up, because that 333 words a day and 10 extra minutes of writing makes a difference.
Word crawls work wonders, especially when there’s a proper variety of activities. Two out of my three most productive days, I have word crawls to thank. Mind you, if there’s not enough variety in activities, they don’t hold my attention, but they are still a tool I plan to continue taking advantage of.
My pacing and dialogue tags need some work. Hell, I already knew that, but this Nano just hammered it home. I can’t tell you how clunky some of this stuff got. Ah, well. That’s a problem for another draft.
I actually can write to lyrical music, assuming it’s on the lowest setting possible. I have the gang over on my writing server to thank for that realization. Social writing is so, so much easier.
What I Learned About My Story
Eve Donnery and Yvonne Germaine are ex-girlfriends, and that’s why they are the way they are around each other. It actually has nothing to do with the war.
A certain character from Timeline-B is related to a certain character from Timeline-A. This is actually turning out to be such a significant plot point that I’m not sure how I didn’t draw this conclusion before.
One of my plotlines is kinda maybe sorta based on one from a Star Trek. Except I’m exploring it far more to its full potential and the mechanics are different. Doesn’t change the fact I’m pretty sure my brain got the idea from Trek. Oops.
I know nothing about Nikolai’s mother and I should probably do something about that. Even if she was just never in the picture, I have no clue why.
There’s a penal colony on Mars!!! (That fills so many plotholes from later in the series, you have no idea.)
With Cathedral’s Timeline-B fully drafted, my next step is to finish planning Timeline-A so I can hopefully hammer that out during the April Camp. Because I’m going to need a couple months to do that - there’s too many details that are up-in-the-air at this point. After that, I can perhaps begin draft two, although Timeline-B is clean-cut enough that it might not require a complete rewrite.
For now, I’m taking a step back from actively working on this project, or working on any project. I need the next three weeks for projects and exams, and my freetime during such busy weeks is better put toward something mindless or spur-of-the-moment. It helps stave off the breakdowns. Once those weeks pass, however, I hope to begin writing and releasing chapters for my gay sci-fi romance Heart, Mind, Soul and to continue doing so throughout winter break.
That being said, I will be releasing Cathedral content in the coming weeks!!! I haven’t decided what, but I’ll probably be doing that first vs. last line thing for at least Nikolai and Matov, maybe a couple memes, some excerpts… Basically, low-effort content that is, nonetheless, content! (If there’s anything you’d like to see, please feel free to make a request.) I want to make up for not posting much the past two months, thanks to Preptober and Nano.
How did everyone else’s Nano go? c:
Get some words written? Make any realizations? Any new friends, new ideas? Feel free to share in the reblogs/replies or drop into my asks or DMs!
Cathedral Taglist (ask to be added/removed) - @inkwellprincess, @ditzysworld, @nattletak, @purpleshadows1989, @dowings, @dentseymour, @eagleagle
