I took the nanowrimo challenge and got 50,000 words done in one month on a novel which I plan to finish up, hopefully by spring or summer. If it is not finished by then it will certainly be more organized than it is right now. The exercise was interesting. You had to write 50,000 words in one month on a novel. There were times during the month when the novel would not come out of my head but I just kept pouring out the words and the novel gradually evolved and floated to the surface in and among all the words on the page.
There were times when I would say it was just automatic writing or stream of consciousness and a lot of useless crap and other times when the writing was purposeful. But when it was all done I have the basics of a novel. I’ll have to remember that little trick next time I get stuck for something to write. Or when the words do not come easily. Just keep plugging away and they will come even if unorganized and in the end most of what you write down will be useful for either story line or background information.
I also got a really neat idea for a short story in and among the nanowrimo novel writing. I just set the idea off in brackets and kept right on writing. I have since pulled that short story idea out for further development.
