If I make the clackity noise long enough every day, the ‘writing’ seems to take care of itself.
- Merlin Mann

National Novel Writing Month 2009 is finished, and I ended with a final word count of 65,194. I still have some sections to write and I expect a large chunk of what I have written to be either completely thrown out or heavily edited, but I enjoyed the writing process this time around much more.

When I participated in NaNoWriMo in 2006, I knew a few people who were writing, and I knew there were local write-ins happening, but I flew solo. I struggled to reach 50,000 words and the final novel wasn’t something I was satisfied with at all — to the point that I put it away and haven’t looked at it since.

One of the key factors in this year’s success was that I participated with people. I got active on social networks, drawing a lot of inspiration and motivation from fellow writers through Twitter and Facebook. I also organized a handful of write-ins, which not only helped me stay accountable, but also gave me the chance to make new friends. While the writing was still a solo act, it was something that I could experience with others, even if we were just silently typing away as fast as we could.

So now that November is over, what’s next? My plan is to shelve this book for a bit, let it breathe over the holidays before I go back and finish. March is National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo), which may be good inspiration for that part of the writing stage.

And the first novel, the one that I haven’t revisited since 2006? I had an “aha!” moment during a write-in this year and realized how to rewrite the ending to make it work, so I’m looking forward to tackling that as well.

Thank you to everyone who kept me motivated, from family to friends to fellow writers. You helped make this a successful NaNoWriMo, and I appreciate you putting up with me over the 30 days of madness.