Just like finishing a chapter in a novel and moving on to the next, November has come and gone. Each day was filled with a flurry of words, with each day being a new adventure.
Here’s how I did on my goals in November:
November Results
Writing
NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo went well for me this year, despite the hullabaloo going on with HQ and all the vitriol on the internet. I still don’t feel totally good about supporting something that has such serious obligations. Despite all that, I did finish the month out with more words than I started, I did attend write-ins and hopefully helped grow the love of writing in some of the new participants in my area this year. I managed to write 59,033 and dedicated 25.5 hours to my novel this year. I hope to continue the trend and finish the novel in December, or at least set up some habits for 2024.
Post more writing online
This month, I wanted to hold myself accountable and post at least weekly in several different places. Here on the blog, over on medium and also on Substack. This month, despite it being busy with NaNoWriMo, I managed to post every week in each of those places. It was hard work some days, but overall it was enjoyable. It was really freeing to sit down and write things and post them because it needed to be done. No overthinking this time. Post it and on to the next.
Personal
Exercise
There were a few days in November that I did attempt to start an exercise routine. I did not get as much exercise as I wanted, but I did make a solid attempt. For that, I’m proud. I’m excited to continue my attempts to exercise, especially since I found a way I can get exercise inside no matter the weather. I hope to try again in December and hopefully see some better results.
Journal
Journaling this month was almost exclusively related to writing and NaNoWriMo. It was nice to journal how the day went writing wise and what I was looking forward to and what I was struggling with. It was very helpful to keep track of my writing time and how many words I could get out in just a few minutes. It’s been surreal keeping track of my writing time down to the minute, but it’s also been very eye opening.
Hydrate
This month, to stay hydrated, I really started focusing on drinking water. I have an app that I’ve had for quite a while, but have only just started using again. I didn’t track very well at the beginning of the month, but in the last week of November I joined a 21 day hydration challenge. I love a challenge, so hopefully this will help me stay more hydrated and feel better inside and out.
Word Count: 66,725
Other
In November, I pretty much exclusively focused on writing as much as I could. Thankfully I’m done with school for the time being, and I could really take the time to focus on writing a novel. Fortunately, my area is full of other writers and we were able to get together weekly to help each other reach our writing goals. I also celebrated my Grandmother-In-Law’s 90th birthday and had a great Thanksgiving with my family. This has been one of the best Novembers yet.
December Goals
Finish To Have A Heart
I would like to keep up the pace and finish To Have a Heart by the end of December. I would like to get anywhere between 1500 and 2000 words a day (or about 40-45 minutes a day) of writing done. Depending on how far I really am in my outline and how far it takes me to get to the end, I might have to finish the novel in January, but I am going to do my best in December, despite the craziness of the holidays.
Publish more online
Over the past month, I have been fortunate to be able to publish many places online. I would like to keep up that pace and update at least weekly. It worked quite well last month, so once again, I would like to keep up that pace. Stay tuned for more content.
Publish something
This year, one of my goals was to publish something. Technically, I do have something published (a poetry book that never took off), but I would like to publish some work by the end of the year. That means I have some work to do in December.
Stay tuned for updates!