I didn't hit 50K, but doing NaNo still made me a winner

I'm enjoying seeing the NaNo Winner badges on friends' websites, even as their default pics on Facebook, and am proud of them for their success. This is my fourth year that I participated. I didn't hit the 50,000 word mark, but thanks to the NaNoWriMo campaign, I still feel like a winner.

Here's why...

NaNo helped me focus

I don't lack for ideas to write about. I struggle with focus. Thank goodness I only have a talent for writing fiction, not like some of my friends who also are poets, or I'd be more scattered than I am. Before NaNo 2010, I had four other books started, each stalling out around 25,000 words. However, each of those books is viable and worthy of completion. After NaNo, I added 6,000 words to one novel and more significantly, nearly 20,000 words to another. Participating in NaNo definitely helped me focus. The focus began from external sources--the badges, the word meters, the buzz among writers on the Internet--until I became sufficiently dug in and was able to internalize my focus. This constituted a breakthrough because I had essentially given up on this book because of some harsh critics early on. NaNo gave me the wherewithal to pick it up and give it another go.

NaNo helped me write smarter this time

Because of all the helpful blog posts about how to prepare for NaNo, my time was more productive than ever. Before I sat down to write the 20K on RACE CARD, I did a beat sheet, laying out every plot point from beginning to end. I also reexamined my structure, to make sure I had the major plot points and the moment when "all hope is lost" in the right places. Once I had that beat sheet, all I had to do was carve out time to write. On each project, the books moved forward more prudently than they had in the past. I won't have to do a lot of rewriting as a result. Did the beat sheet change midwriting? Sure, it always does. Writing, not outlining, is my way of thinking. But overall the product was much stronger as a result.

NaNo strengthened my resolve

Thanks to NaNo, I became reinvested in each book, convinced of their worth, and became recommitted to finishing each one. Prior to NaNo, I was feeling not only conflicted but a little too lackadaisical. Sure, I guess I would eventually finish the books someday. Now, I know I'll finish each, and I won't have to spend a lot of time doing heavy rewrites because they are stronger works this time around.

I may not be a category NaNo winner. I can't post an official winner badge like many of my deserving friends. But make no mistake, this November I feel as though I've brought home the mirror ball trophy! Thanks to my Wilkes cohort for the constant encouragement and to so many fellow writers for the great tips and cosmic energy around writing. All very good things for this fiction writer.