NaNoWriMo: That's all till next year

Late last month I wrote a boastful post about National Novel Writing Month.

I was going to participate, along with countless numbers of others, and produce a rough draft of a novel over the course of November. Well, I failed. I wrote for the first three days and quit. Fortunately, I'm glad to report that it seems that other members of NaNoWriMo, as the event is affectionately called, are closing in on the end of the month and should have completed first drafts of 50,000 words. The event ends at midnight tonight.

During the three days that I did participate, I amazed myself. Giving NaNoWriMo just an hour and a half a day, I produced 6,000 words. My characters didn't do much more than order in pizza, but that's beside the point. The volume that I managed to produce made me proud. I really could have had a substantial rough draft if I'd stuck with it.

So why did I stop? Well, a bunch of life events and the absence of a plot. I've discovered in the face of writing under pressure, a plot outline really is essential. At least for me. I'll keep this in mind in 2006 when I again plan publically announce my intentions to NaNoWriMo.

The successful participant will upload their novels to a word counting program tonight, to verify that they have indeed "won", and then they can successfully rest after a month of hard work and insanity. I wish I had the wherewithall to be among them.