After National Novel Writing Month

I have done National Novel Writing Month for seven years now. Every year it seems to be a different experience. I think this happens for two reasons. The first is that doing it once a year is not enough so you really have a predictable experience. You are not doing it often enough to learn efficiencies that make it that much easier.

I also think it happens because I am a different person every year. For example this is the first year I am doing NaNoWriMo as a married man. Yes being married makes it different then last year being engaged. This is the first year Kate did it with me. Yes she did complete 50,000 words also.

I made a tweet this year when I wrote "For me nanowrimo Kinda like a rowing machine gets you in shape but does not actually take you anywhere." I still feel that it was true for me this year. I know the idea of NaNoWriMo is to finish and have a first draft of a novel. That was not my case this year. I realized this about two weeks into NaNoWriMo, but I still finished. I have not written any fiction since NaNoWriMo last year and any fiction writing I can do Is helpful. Some times you just need to write.

Over the last week of so I thought about what I learned this year. I came up with a couple thinks I think I need to work on, after being on the rowing machine for a month.

I Need to Write More Fiction. In the past year I have not taken much time to write. It seems like there is always something more important to do. I need to find the right way to carve out time to write. When I find that time I need to write and not spend my time messing around on the internet. It is just too easy to waste time.

I Need to Write More Blog Entries. I have been lazy like lots of bloggers and let Twitter say everything for me. I know that writing blog entries really makes me think about my ideas and how to construct them on the page. I find that even helps when I am working on fiction.

I Need to Read More Novels. I know I do not read enough. Lately I have not read much at all. Some of the problems I am having writing comes because I spend all my time reading websites. I know that I can get better at expressing my story ideas if I read more. I just need to make myself do it

I Need to Read More Short Fiction. There is some short fiction, but I have to put a lot more effort into finding it. To become a better writer I think I need to work on writing shorter fiction. If I want to write it, I need to read it. It is a simple idea.

I Need to Watch Lets TV. I love Television, but it is easy to let it suck away too much time. It is easy to watch television mindlessly. I need to turn off the TV if I want to spend time writing. I cannot write and keep the TV on. It just does not work.

I Need to Manage My Internet Time Better. The internet is the greatest distraction in the world. I can sit down to write and find myself watching YouTube two hours later. This is a really easy thing to do. I know this is where a lot of my time goes.

I Need to Set Creative Goals. I know the only way to measure myself is to set goals. Setting Goals includes thinking of creative projects, being clear about what I want to do, and setting aside to accomplishing the goal.