Saturday

i won nanowrimo! - how i bounced back from failing last year



On Wednesday, November 22nd, at 7:26 P.M... I WON NANOWRIMO 2017!


CONFETTI AND CAKE FOR ALL! It was a surreal moment and I was completely and utterly over the moon about it.

This year I worked my butt off. as of yesterday (I'm still going!), I've had five 3ks, one 4k, two 5ks, and get ready. ONE 8K.

I KNOW SOME INSANELY TALENTED PEOPLE CAN WRITE 30 THOUSAND WORDS IN ONE DAY BUT. 8,000 words in one day is a freaking ton for me!

Last year the most words I had written was 4,304 and on Thursday, I pulled a 5k with no problem, and I'm planning to do the same today (pulling my word count up to 60,000 AHH).

I'm feeling so confident about my writing and the novel is going so so well and I'm actually excited to edit it and hopefully write the second draft when Camp NaNoWrimo comes around in April!

ANYWAY, last year, I did a post about not being able to finish NaNo, which really took a toll on writing, and I stopped writing everything including fanfiction, which made me in turn lose faith in the blog, and well, it wasn't good.

It was really difficult coming back from that, and it took me a long time to figure out if I was even going to attempt NaNo this year, but here I am with 56k and 6 days remaining. SO HERE IS MY STORY.



warning: this may be the cheesiest thing you have EVER read.

Last November, I stopped writing at day 24 at 29,682 words. I was far far behind and I would have to write an insane amount of words every day to keep up.

I was not an optimist, and I didn't see reason in completing NaNo if I wasn't going to finish 50k by the end of the month. I had done it last year, when I was a year younger, so why the heck didn't I do it this year? Was I incapable of writing? Did I lose the drive I had to write? Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a writer.

I had promised myself that in January I would pick it back up again, and then I never did. I couldn't bring myself to do it. This had been a failed piece of writing that hadn't my expectations. I went back and read it, and naturally was revolted, so I suppose I just convinced myself that writing wasn't my thing.

Something I taught myself throughout this prosperous month of November was that giving up is not an option. Mistakes have to be made to find the right track of life, and I found it. I used the many mistakes I had made last year to set an example for my writing path this year. 

I set aside time for writing, I set aside time for 5ks, I helped to motivate myself, I did everything that I could to keep myself going.



And sometimes things don't go your way. I was a kid who immediately gave up when I didn't get what I wanted, or I didn't accomplish something. Which basically made me give up everything I tried to do.

News flash: life doesn't work that way! In October, I wrote an extremely short story that I improvised along the way to get myself into the groove and to see if I actually wanted to write. And it made me realize how much I enjoyed writing and wanted to do NaNoWrimo. Don't get me wrong, it was godawful and I knew that, I just didn't make myself read it. teehee.

I realized how much I enjoyed writing AGAIN on the day I wrote 8k (mind you, I was fueled by Starbucks, but that is unimportant. actually it's not, their chestnut praline lattes are SO GOOD.)

And I kept realizing it and finding more love right up until today, writing this post right now, staring at the scene cards on my bedside table, just wanting to finish this freaking post so I can write my next scene.


But wait. What if I realize that I'm just forcing myself to like something and I actually abhor it down to my core but I just don't know it?


Do what I always do, make a pros and cons list. Or, if you're not a list freak like me... do something you know you love to do. If you're trying to get back into writing, and you also love your violin with every cell in your body (no that is not about me psh wha), then pick up your violin and play.

Do you feel a certain way when you play? Yeah, that's called loving the heck out of what you do. Now go and write for a half an hour, do you feel similar? Or at least something that's not pain? That's also called loving the heck out of what you do. It may not be the same feeling, because they're different things, but you have a feeling! THAT'S GOOD. That means you probably don't hate it.

I'm like the worst advice giver ever but THIS STUFF WORKED FOR ME. It may or may not work for you since I'm almost 100% positive I'm from another planet. heh.

IN SHORT. Find a way to reignite your passions! But just remember that passions should come fairly naturally, don't force yourself to do anything you really don't want to do. Life is about choices, so make the one that is best for you. You don't have to do anything.

Except eat. and sleep. and drink water. DRINK YO WATER. And do what you love. That's all. 



What is one hobby that you've lost interest in but want to bring back? How do you bounce back from failure? What's one thing you accomplished this month?

apologies for the long and sappy post hehe 

peace out,
noor

7 comments:

  1. CONGRATS ON FINISHING NANO! That's awesome. :)

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  2. *claps* CONGRATS!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you, that's amazing!!

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  3. Congratulations! I didn't 'really' do NaNo but it kinda motivated me to write a lot more! and 8K in one day is a ton for anyone!

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  4. NOOR!!! CONGRATS! That's huge! I also loved reading this story about yourself that you shared. It's inspiring to read.

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  5. Congratulations! I'm so glad you made it this year! I still want to participate in NaNoWriMo one year but there's always something holding me back :( I guess I've become to critical about my own writing as well to give it a proper shot.

    x Envy
    Lost in Translation

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