Like you, the NaNo 2.0 volunteers participated in November’s writing adventure. Are you curious as to what they accomplished? (And would you like to compare it to what they had originally planned? Hmmm?) I was, so I interviewed them to see how their November of writing abandon played out. Here’s what they had to say.
Tim Yao
- Goal: 50 hours of editing
- How I did: 34 hours of editing
- Something I learned (or relearned): Family time needs to be treasured, even above the opportunity to win. It’s okay to break a win streak for the right reason.
Thomas A. Knight
- Goal: 50,000 words, complete as many projects as I can.
- How I did: I hit 50k words, but have not actually completed the book I was working on, though I got very close to the end.
- Something I learned (or relearned): I’m incapable of writing “short.” This book has hit 100k words and is on track to be one of my longest books yet. I’m okay with that. But I wasn’t expecting to hit this word count on this story.
Tavia Stewart
- Goal: Complete writing all 12 pieces of a collection for an immersive story experience I am building.
- How I did: I completed six! And in doing so, realized that six is plenty for this project. I also cleared out a shed in my backyard (and built a second smaller shed to store stuff) to make a room of my very own for writing!
- Something I learned (or relearned): That less can be just right. I am really happy with how the project has taken shape, and letting go of 12 made me more excited to weave all six of my stories together with more care and attention.
Shannon Lynam
- Goal: 40K and a finished first draft (started the month at 55K)
- How I did: ended the month at 94k (reached my 40k word goal) and almost finished with my first draft.
- Something I learned (or relearned): That I am not a sprinter and feel better about my work when I take the time to write intentionally.
Maria Berejan
- Goal: 50,000 words
- How I did: 24,000 words
- Something I learned (or relearned): Writing is somehow always harder than I remember it being, but it’s worth it! And driving towards a particular writing goal I’m excited about each day (like making two characters meet, or discovering the murder weapon is a flamingo lawn ornament, or finally writing that kiss scene between a human and a ghost) gets me more words than focusing on the word count.
Lucie Lane
- Goal: 50,000 words
- How I did: 50,160 words!
- Something I learned (or relearned): You will get behind if you don’t write par every day! Fortunately, I’m still very good at catching up. I had to write 8,000 words on November 30th! Oops!
Liz Leo
- Goal: 50k words on a novel
- How I did: 50,050
- Something I learned (or relearned): This story seemed to flow for me more than many other novels I’ve worked on and I think the reason was that for the first time I focused on a cast of ten characters with unique personalities and wants and needs. Whenever I got bored I switched it up and checked in on another character!
Laura Bradley
- Goal: 50k words of a memoir
- How I did: 50,474
- Something I learned (or relearned): It is a LOT easier to write 50,000 words of a memoir than create a brand new story for a novel! Once I got rolling on a memory, the words just poured out. Also: what a joy it was to spend so much time down memory lane.
Kristina Horner
- Goal: 50k words of a sequel to a previous NaNo novel
- How I did: 51,116 words written in November!
- Something I learned (or relearned): I have always been someone who needs to write my novel chronologically. Writing in order, to me, is how I learn about the world and my characters, and how I uncover the small details that help me write the rest of the book with confidence. But this year, for some reason… it just felt like a SLOG. By the time I hit 50k, I had only just started feeling like I was connecting with my story and having fun, after weeks of muddling through aimlessly. This year, I wish I’d had the courage to try jumping ahead, and I hope I can carry that knowledge with me into future projects.
Kathy Kitts
- Goal: 50K new words (started at 60K ended up with 115K)
- How I did: Won! Woohoo!
- Something I learned (or relearned): I wanted to be a rebel but couldn’t do it. I had to do at least 50K of new words. This is my 23rd win. I couldn’t break the streak.
Gertrude Daly
- Goal: Hit 350-page count on my existing non-fiction project.
- How I did: I abandoned my initial goal and didn’t get much done on that project. I ended up working on migrating my blog from Blogger to WordPress. This went well. And then I started a novel so I could participate in word sprints.
- Something I learned (or relearned): I should create an outline, decide on my genre, etc. I find myself rewriting the beginning over and over when I don’t know what the story is.
Coral Sands
- Goal: 50k in 30 days
- How I did: I got 30k.
- Something I learned (or relearned): With how busy I was, I’m very happy with what I accomplished. Sometimes your self care has to come first. As long as you get back on the horse the next day, you haven’t failed. Just keep plugging along!
Chris Baty
- Goal: Total rewrite of 9 chapters on an existing novel
- How I did: Only rewrote 4 chapters. But I had a couple BIG story breakthroughs that wouldn’t have happened if I’d worked at my own dawdling pace. I also built some great momentum for December.
- Something I learned (or relearned): I should work on my novel first thing in the morning, before checking Slack or email. I’m a born Obliger, which means I need to be extra ruthless when it comes to protecting that sweet, sweet post-coffee creative time.
Ansley Ashe
- Goal: 50,000 words in new novel, Only in America
- How I did: I did 3000 ish words a day for the last 12 days to hit the goal after falling behind. And still did not get to all of the scenes I had written out!
- Something I learned (or relearned): Once a story gets going, it gets going. Also, I relearned that writing with friends is the best. (aka, I loved doing the wordsprints on Bluesky.)
Want to share how your November went? Use our contact form or swing by Bluesky and Instagram to tell us about your November or your future writing plans. We’d love to hear from you!
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