So, you all pretty much know what NaNoWriMo is. It’s been a hot topic at the forum. I did it, just ‘cause I thought, “Hey, this will be fun! They’re telling me to write crap and it will turn to gold. I can write crap!” I even read “No Plot? No Problem!” before I started. (Talk about dedication!)

Now it’s over. I succeeded with 61,172 words. Flying colors and all that. Woot.

People have asked to read my story. Their brains, souls, and livers should be grateful that I’ve declined. I don’t want to see that trashbag again.

But enough about that. In the spirit of Not Forgetting Lessons Learned and Passing on Tastywisdom, here is what I learned this month:

1. Writing 50K words a month is flipping easy. I mean, come on: There are no standards. They are telling us to write BS. So what if you wax poetic for 3K words about how painful your hangnail is? It’s valid. Easy beans. It’s easy to pull shit out of your butt. [Erm, sorry for that pleasing image…]
2. I write 50K words a month anyway. Because I was paying attention to word count, I paid attention to how much I write for fan fiction and my original work as well. I easily 50K words a month without NaNoWriMo. And better yet, it’s not shit! [I hope.]
3. If you plan to write crap, crap will come. The problem with going into something with the idea that you’re going to write crap is…you’re going to write crap. When I visualize my stories in my head before I write them, I consider them Divine Inspiration. When they are written, they fall short of the heavenly vision in my head. I always fall short of what I aim for. It happens. So what I need to do is not plan to write crap and hope that Divine Inspiration will emerge, but plan Divine Inspiration and hope that it doesn’t come out as crap.
4. I cannot finish a self-contained plot in 50K words. Not even close. This may not come as a surprise to anyone who has read my stories!
5. I need to know my characters before I start. Otherwise I flounder, they flounder, we all flounder. Then drown in mediocre, horribly inconsistent behavior. I need to know my characters. I mean, REALLY know them. In the Biblical sense. Sure, they might surprise me from time to time, but I shouldn’t be surprised when one becomes an alcoholic. [You’d think I’d know the signs by now.]
6. I need a detailed outline. If you don’t know where you’re going and how to get there, it’s hard to get there, right? Duh.
7. I have to, like, like my plot. I chose a stupid plot bunny and chose to run with it. It was dumb. I knew it was dumb. But I did it anyway. And, surprise, it’s still as dumb now as it was a month ago. Go figure.

I recommend NaNoWriMo, even if it’s just for the sake of coming up with Genius Gems of Truth like I offered above. It was fun, mostly. And you learn about yourself, although the lessons might be fairly obvious.

I don’t know if I’ll do it again, but it was worth it. And not even, like, hard.

[If anyone has Wisdom they would like to share about their NaNo experiences, feel free to share in the comments.]