Penning a Novel #7- It's all over

So as of the middle of last week, I have officially quit NaNoWriMo. I just couldn't make myself write any more. So the official ending count for me was just a little over 20,000 words. Yeah, pretty poor showing. However, I got done what I wanted to get done. I finally sat down and wrote out several children's books that I have been brainstorming for almost a year, since the character mysteriously made her way into my sketch book. So I am not going to be too down on myself.

I might do some more writing during the Thanksgiving holiday. But with family around, a Xbox and a Wii at my disposal, and more good food than I can stand, I don't see any writing going on. At least not on this particular project. I did however start on a script before NaNo and shelved for when this was done. So perhaps I should pull that out and see how far I get with it. It feels really promising.

I wish I had something more exciting to tell you. I wish I could say that "Hooray, I won for a second year in a row" but that is just not the case. I suppose the lesson here is when something isn't working, take a step away from it and see what the problem is. And know when to say when.

I guess I knew it was a monumental task to write 25 short stories in a month. Especially since the short story is not my cup of tea. I have never written anything that was a collection or had a parade of the same characters over and over. Most of my stories were stand alone. So doing something like this was a learning experience. I could get used to the short story format I suppose. But I do believe that I will always be a novelist at heart.

So curtains have closed for me this writing season. Hopefully I will be more successful next year.