Here's to the End

So this is the end of NaNoWriMo for another year. Last night was the last time I had a chance to write and have it go toward my wordcount, and midnight was the time to get my novel verified.

So how did I do? What did I learn?

• I never got above 15,000 words. True, this is more than I have written in years, and I'm back to wanting to write and create, but obviously this isn't quite 50k. So I didn't win (again) this year.
• If I'm writing about something that has some basis in real life (like, say, Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes) I should actually know those stories. The story of Hansel and Gretel has a lot of elements that I didn't know about (for example, Hansel and Gretel weren't originally given names, those were added later to separate their story from another story. Originally they were "Little Brother" and "Little Sister." Also it wasn't their father's choice to abandon them in the woods - his wife (their stepmother) pressured him into it).
• Next year I should write something that doesn't require so much research, because researching things that I want to write about is way too fun, and it makes my writing time a lot shorter. So ... nothing based in reality (again: No nursery rhymes or fairy tales or myths. This path ends badly).
• I really need to learn time-management. Like, a lot.
• Staying up until 3am to write may seem like a good idea at the time, but in the end it just leads to messing up my sleep schedule (which in turn messes up my writing schedule and makes me not want to write the next day .... until it's in the wee hours of the morning).
• I should get a laptop. Like, really. Sitting straight up is so not comfortable for writing a long thing. Maybe I need a different chair instead ...
• I learned that when I get sick I need to keep writing, even if I feel like crap.
• I got my imagination back a little! I've been getting more random stories popping up in my head. I almost scratched Never Ever After and started writing a completely different story halfway through.

Overall, even though I didn't win this year, I'm still glad I tried. I'm glad I'm writing a bit more, and I've gotten back a little of that passion to write.

Just wait until 2010 NaNoWriMo. Just wait.