Winner!

Nano Winner 2013

Oh joy, I am a Nano winner! I managed to finish with 50044 words!
The great French Municipal Liaison Officer had organised a raclette last Friday and it paned out quite well: we had a great time and some great food and some good word wars, which is always a win!

I have loved this year’s Nano: I am a winner, I now have my first (very rough around the edges) draft. I will leave it to rest for a couple of months before I have a look at it. Nonetheless, it is done and I can continue to move forward with this novel.

The whole Nano experience was a fascinating one. Despite people raining on the parade and pointed out that Nano generates a lot of novels whose quality is disputable, it has a great merit: it makes people write. In a way, I think it doesn’t matter if the books which are produced are not going to be published. Doing a NaNoWrimo is an achievement in itself. It is easy to criticise but unless you have done it, you can’t talk about it. For me, it made me realise something I knew intellectually: I love writing, it makes me so happy, I would even say elated. I had never spent so much time writing for my own pleasure. I have liked every minute of it. The Nano helped me to get out of one of my big weaknesses: the glass head. I see things very clearly and forget to describe them… Needing words for the word count made this major drawback melt away. Another thing you know to be true but don’t quite get it is: to become a writer, you need to be disciplined and write regularly.

The French community was absolutely ace: I met the most amazing people and have serious hopes that some of the Wrimos will become friends. Our ML masterminded the entire operations and she did it with a great maestria. Kudos to her! I am hoping to see more writing workshops and the likes to sprawl next year.

Anyhow, I have done it! I am really happy and extremely tired. My flat is in a real state. The post-nano will mean for me:

– more writing

– a cleaner and tidier flat

– a lovely translation project

– getting ready for Xmas