Midway Through NanoWriMo

As we've reached the halfway mark, I just wanted to share some of my takeaways, with this being my first NaNoWriMo and my first novel.

Word counts go up fast! Having not written anything in a longer format since my school days, I guess I had forgotten how quickly words add up on a page. Within 5-10 minutes, I found myself with 500 words or more, and it still surprises me. I will admit that I've had my entire novel outlined beforehand, with events for each chapter, so that has definitely been a huge help. Also, when I read or write, the events play like a movie within my head, so it's very easy for me to see every little thing that's going on and every small detail. I hear every character's voice and see their mannerisms and facial expressions. Even if something being described is rather complex my brain will work out an image. There isn't any part of any book that I cannot see. Which brings me to my next point.

I am an absolute visual whore. I've always been more of a hands-on learner who did well with visual cues. I rarely read instruction manuals besides maybe looking at the pictures.

I have more ideas than I originally thought I did. I have been quite surprised how sometimes my brain is able to pick an idea and run with it. An hour later and I have an entire ecosystem worked out. It's fun and intimidating at the same time.

As the month drags on, I'm curious about what else I'll discover about myself and the writing process. This is the most intense and dedicated I've been in a while.

And yes, the time I took to write this up could have been time well spent writing my novel. 😂

Till next time ✌🏾