What I'm Going To Remember About NaNoWriMo 2015

Posted on 6th December, 2015

This November saw my fifth NaNoWriMo and I didn't exactly cover myself in glory, though my final word count of 30,895 did give me a daily average of just over 1,000, and that's something to be pleased about. I did well to start with. On day 15, half way through, I clocked up 21,994, which is only 3,000 behind the midway target of 25,000. So what happened after that?

 

Well, life got in the way - new job, doing online training at home, working a day a week at my old job because the new job doesn't provide enough hours; plus the upset of finding out that Mopsey, our lovely long-haired tabby, has a terminal condition. (She's fine at the moment and back to normal, thanks to pain killers.)

 

So is my blog going to be about how I persevered with NaNo and managed to produce another 9,000-ish words in spite of everything? No, the reason I'm writing this is to tell you how wonderful Melanie was. Melanie is a writing friend whom I met through NaNo in 2013 and we've been in touch ever since.

 

Through the first half of the month, we were sending one another messages most days, sharing our progress. But once things went pear-shaped for me, Melanie swung into full NaNo-buddy mode and sent messages of sympathy and support regarding Mopsey and lots of praise and encouragement for the writing I was managing to get done. She made me feel good about my severely reduced output, which I certainly wouldn't have done otherwise.

 

So NaNoWriMo 2015 will go down in my personal history not as the one where I started really well and then fizzled out, but as the one where Melanie was such a great friend. Melanie, if you're reading this - thank you; and I hope you won't mind if I share your sensational word count of 71,267 with my readers. You're a star.

 

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Did you do NaNoWriMo this year? How did you get on? Do you have writing freinds who support you? I am enormously fortunate to have two close writing friends, Melanie and Jen, and their support makes all the difference.

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Comments (7)

As you know, I'm not a huge fan of NaNo (as I think that it leads to those who don't meet their expectations feeling as though they've failed). In your case you are a complete winner - I'd take a fabulous new friend over 50,000 words any day. Oh, and 1,000 words a day is amazing anyway!
On 11th December, 2015 by Wendy Clarke (website: http://wendyswritingnow.blogspot.co.uk/)
What a lovely message, Jen. Thank you so much. I'm still going through the writing vs real life struggle, as so many writers do. I'm lucky that for the past couple of years, things have gone so smoothly for me. I hope I achieve that state again soon!
On 10th December, 2015 by Susanna Bavin
This post touched me, Susanna, and not only because you mentioned me in it! I'm grateful that you're one of my close writing friends. The connection we share is precious to me. As you've demonstrated in this post, although a high word count is great (congratulations, Melanie), sometimes the biggest success is to keep going through difficulties.

As you know, English Rose and I are saddened to hear about Mopsey, and we both send you much love and support as you tackle current challenges in life and writing.
On 9th December, 2015 by Jen Gilroy (website: http://www.jengilroy.com)
Jan, how lovely to hear from you. Thank you for your kind words. I think you've found exactly the right word to describe Melanie's word count. She always works amazingly hard during NaNo. Thank you also for your support - I appreciate the friendship that is growing between us xx
On 8th December, 2015 by Susanna Bavin
Lovely to hear about Melanie, Sue, and congratulations to her for that staggering word count! I knew about some of the issues that were making it difficult for you but not about your cat. So sorry to hear about Mopsey. I can imagine how those supportive emails and messages from Melanie helped you. Thank you, too, for the encouraging messages you sent me during NaNo.
On 7th December, 2015 by Jan Baynham (website: http://www.janbaynham.blogspot.co.uk)
Thank you for your kind remarks, Louise. Yes, you're right - the friendship I have with Melanie is a virtual one, but no less precious for that. My other writing friend, Jen, is another person whom I've never met in real life. My friendships with Jen and Melanie are conducted via email and mean an enormous amount to me.
On 7th December, 2015 by Susanna Bavin
It sounds as if you have a true friend in Melanie, all the more so because I assume that if you met through doing NaNoWriMo, then you have never actually met one another in "real life". Sorry to hear about your cat - it's so hard when pets are ill. I hope the pain killers carry on doing their job.
On 7th December, 2015 by Louise