And I thought November took me by surprise!
NaNoWriMo 2020 is over. I did well, and achieved my primary goal: a (more or less) complete zero draft of a third book in a series. I tried a new plotting method, and it helped establish metrics and pick the points were things needed to happen. I’d call it a success, and I’m going to use a similar approach for future novels, at least until I find something better.
(Every writer has their own process, and it changes with every book and experience.)
More importantly, though, I think the North OC NaNoWriMo community did especially well with the virtual format. A dear friend who was worried at having difficulty due to no in-person events not only made his 50k but hit it early and finished his story! Another friend set an impressive above-50k goal and made it! Lots of completed stories, lots of 50k achievements, lots of “I didn’t make it but I did better than I ever did before”! We had an active community, including a morning crew, an evening crew, and a late night crew (which wouldn’t have happened w/o the virtual setting). We had a formal dress-up write-in, we had a (virtual) train ride, we had a 24 hour write-in. We had morning grinds and evening gatherings, and even wrote on Thanksgiving.
The Final Push was there to cheer participants on, helping a few people get over 50k in the very last evening.
Good job, everyone! Bask in the afterglow!