I finished the month only on a partially successful note. Both ventures were a great deal of fun, and brought me some valuable insights. I even learned from trying to do them in the same month. One thing I took from November’s activities is that they are do–able in the same month.

NaNoWriMo: My Incomplete Success

First the bad news: My novel remains unfinished. I didn’t meet my goal of 50,000 words by November 30. And I’m alright with that. In fact, I’ll be fine with it but not yet—hat’s coming.

And the good news: While I was disappointed in myself for not finishing, I know what stopped me. Now, it’s not that I have good excuses because I don’t. I just learned more about me and the land mines I allowed to stop me. Tells me a lot about what to look out for next time. Yes, there will be a next time.

The other good thing that came of this effort was that I learned that I still have the passion to write long pieces of fiction. And, my biggest take–away is that I have the beginning of a novel that I really like. So, while I didn’t make my deadline, I’m still going to write the novel.

2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge

The poems are done! I finished them on time even though I got a little behind a few times in the month. That was quite thrilling for me but that’s only half the project.

The rest of the challenge lies in completing the poem edits and submitting them before January 5, 2010. If you would like to read the poems visit the roundup on my page the 2009 PAD November Chapbook Challenge, under the Poems main tab.

This project was very much worth the effort. I learned that I have the strength to let poems go out into the cosmos of cyber space. I trust my editing more. Not that it’s all that good, but that I know how to carve out and leave in what reflects me. I make what works for me and offer it up to others to enjoy or not.

Making changes on the fly, working to find the right words came easy and hard depending on different factors—but the changes came. I’ll be exploring in more detail what I got out of these activities. Come back and check it out. Tell me about your writing project experiences.

By the way, I would have finished this post yesterday but my brain was a lot fried from the challenges. I didn’t have my sea legs back yet. Or would that be sea fingers? As a bonafide landlubber, I’m not even sure I have permission to say that. At any rate, I’m better today.