NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up: The Aftermath

So here it is, somehow, December already, and another NaNoWriMo has come and gone. For those of you who are curious, here are the final stats for NaNo2010:

Total words written: 63,107
Average words per day: 2,103.6
Lowest daily word count: 265 (Nov. 10)
Highest daily word count: 4,811 (Nov. 6)

2K words a day is not bad. Last year's NaNo came in at something like 72K by the end of December, but that was mostly due to a 10K + word day that I managed to get in at the end of the month. That didn't happen this year, but I'm okay with that.

Not surprisingly, at 63K words, I feel as though I've mostly just gotten my throat cleared, so to speak, and am ready to really start writing this story. That seems to be my pattern.

There are parts of this story that I really like so far, parts that I know are going to get cut, and parts that I'm just not sure about. One thing that I've decided is that the reason some of the long and rambling passages are happening is because I've yet to uncover the true heart of this story. Last year's story seemed to have a couple of themes going on: betrayal and forgiveness, the end of childhood, using teamwork to overcome obstacles, and the importance of family. So far, this year, I've uncovered one, which has to do with finding your passion and engaging in it. Another that seems to be developing is Doing The Right Thing, even when it hurts. But it still feels like the story is missing something. I just can't quite put my finger on what.

I guess, for the time being, I'll just keep writing. After all, last year, one of the main themes didn't reveal itself until page 465 out of 510. Obviously, it's never too late.

In the meantime, the plan is to just keep writing, a little bit every day (at least; if more than a little bit happens, I certainly won't send it back!) until the story is done. And then I get to gleefully go back and take a machete to that long and flowing description of an airship. (Looking forward to that, actually.)

Along with that, I still have to finish editing Book 1 of this mess, and finish the fairy story I started in August. (I knew I was going to regret not getting that one written before November!) But I guess as long as I'm writing every day, that's what counts. Right?

Off to make my word count for the day now...see y'all next week!