NaNo Round Up

So, my month of being a writer is officially over (whew).  I completed my objective of finished my novel by the end of November.  Approximately 70,000 words (didn't get an official count because it's divided in chapters, I got mad at it, see below, and didn't feel like compiling them), which, starting with 10,000 already, means I wrote about 60,000 words in 30 days.  And I don't think I ever want to do that again.

So, a few things I've learned:

• Back up all your files.  Even if they tell you to back up your files and you scoff and think, "I don't need to back up my files, I won't lose them."  Back them up anyway.  (My files got corrupted, I managed to save them, but now they have no punctuation, quotation marks, or paragraph breaks.)
• Outlining actually helps.  A lot.
• When you have an inability to name characters and you suddenly find yourself with a character that needs a name, use a celebrity's name (Richard Gere made an appearance) or a ridiculous name that you may or may not choose to keep later (Dorcas got a lot of screen time simply because I liked typing it).
• If you're writing historical fiction, research the time period first.
• If your story is set in a particular part of the world you don't know anything about, get a map.  I still don't know where my characters were, they jumped from Maryland, to Virginia, to New York, to Pennsylvania, all within one scene.  (Or maybe they found a machine... nope, not writing Sci Fi, dang)
• Be prepared to eat, dream, talk, think nothing but your story for 30 days.  It becomes an obsession.  I am to plot as Zombies are to brains.
• Tying up loose ends from four or five or six subplots is actually harder than one might think.  I might have forgotten about one.  No wonder Herman Melville just started killing people off in Moby Dick.
• Since NaNo is in November, allow wiggle room to accommodate Thanksgiving, a week of family in town, and a weekend long turkey comma.
• Also allow wiggle room so you can take a week break from writing because you nearly tore your hair out when you almost lost all your files, without falling too far behind in your goal.

As much as I love having accomplished this ginormous task, I'll leave it to the professionals from now on.  You guys and gals have my deepest respect.

Happy writing!