NaNo Wrap-up and Blog Update

Looking Back

Wow! Is it really December already? 

After a last minute file deletion scare (Dad was super awesome and remote accessed my computer from over a hundred miles away and fixed it without a sweat), I won NaNoWriMo 2015 at about 4:30 on November 30th. 

Looking back, I'm still shocked that I did it. If you'll recall, I set out at the beginning of the month to write 30,000 words. Here I am, with 50,000 words under my belt in a tidy word document with more typos than I'd like to see in a lifetime. 

I've learned quite a bit from this NaNo. I haven't won a "real" 50k month since my first one in 2012 and I've taken a bit to reflect on why I was more successful this time around:

• I wrote something every day. Sometimes it was only 50 words with my eyes closed, but I wrote every day. 
• I didn't give up, even when I wasn't sure I could make it. Looking back on previous years where I didn't meet my goal, I often flatlined around 40k. This year, I wrote close to 8,000 words in the last two days. The last thousand or so were really hard, but I made it. 
• I didn't sacrifice sleep. If I was tired, I made sure that I slept. I took care of myself, made my schoolwork a priority, and wrote when I could. I think one of the reasons I've burned out in the past is because I would refuse to take care of myself. If something is taking your time to sleep away on a regular basis, it's hard to enjoy it. 

The story itself is in rough shape. I went down a rabbit trail about halfway through and didn't even reach the climax I had so carefully plotted out. It's going to be a longer work than I've written before, most likely. But, it's an epic fantasy. Short doesn't belong in the same sentence, unless it's describing dwarves or gnomes. I plan to continue working on it as I have time over the next few weeks, which brings me to....

Looking Ahead

Next week (December 7th) I will post as normal (Tuesday and Friday).

The week of  December 14th is my exam week. That Monday, I have three exams (7:45 AM, 1 PM, and 8 PM), followed by an exam on Tuesday. Suffice it to say that I will not be posting on Tuesday the 15th because my brain will be mush. However, there will be a normal Friday post.

The weeks of the 21st and the 28th, I am planning on only posting Tuesdays due to traveling and Christmas and New Years and eating too much sugar.

And that brings us to January! (Scary!)

I will be scaling back on the "What is..." posts starting in January. So, what type of topics would you like to see? Friday Fiction Fix will still be sticking around (I do welcome suggestions for those, as well!)