My #NaNoWriMo Fail

So I signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. For those who don’t spend an ungodly amount of time following writing things (it’s a technical term), NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is dedicated to helping writers complete their novels in one month. A goal of 50,000 words is the plan.

First of all, I knew I was never going to write that many words. Second of all, I don’t think I thought this all the way through.

My plan was to start and finish a new novella and to write two short stories for a couple of anthology projects. That was my plan.

Massive fail.

One of the stories was put on hold, so I could check that off my list.

One of the stories is only half-finished, and I’ve promised the editor he’ll get it by Friday.

And my kinky-as-fuck novella with Madame Gretchen is about a third of the way through.

I wrote a total of about 11,000 words in November. I wrote more in September and October – without the added pressure help from NaNoWriMo.

My only excuse is that I got busier with my vanilla writing. (Yay, right?) This is my first year as a freelancer and I don’t know how much business will be available over the holidays, so I overloaded myself with work every chance I got. Which means something had to be set to the side, and my erotic writing was the sacrificial lamb.

I’ve gotten busier with my writing and work.

Apparently the freelancing writing gods are smiling down on me. Not only was there work to overload on through November, I also had some major successes.

I won’t say who (yet) but I just signed a writing contract to be a contributor for a major adult website. Yay!!!!! Once I start publishing articles for them, I’ll tell you all about it and share the links.

I was hired to be the Marketing Director for BTSeMag (OMG!). It’s a part-time gig, but it lets me flex my marketing muscles in a new and different way that I enjoy.

I picked up my first big vanilla client (big as in a monthly payment that’s three times my previous “biggest” client). Yay!!!!!!!!!

But I don’t like the idea of giving up my fiction writing. It’s a creative outlet for me, and when I’m in the zone of crafting a story, I’m a very happy girl.

So…new plan.

Instead of trying to write as if I’m in a marathon – lots of hours, lots of words – the plan is to write in little chunks of time almost every day. 30 minutes at a time, at least once a day. Hopefully, with this new plan, I’ll finish all the projects running through my mind before my kids graduate college.

We’ll see how that goes. You’ll know I’m making progress when I have more unedited excerpts to share.