Last year I participated in NanoWriMo for the first time. I did not complete any of my goals. Though it did serve it’s purpose = to get my mind off of my life and all the tragedy therein.

A little background:

On September 26, 2009 – I miscarried – for the second time. It was a very traumatic experience for me. So many emotions go through your mind when you lose a baby. And this time was far more upsetting to me then the first time. I felt guilty about caring more about losing this baby then the first one… anyway, after a month of being extremely depressed and completely inconsolable (The one person who could have made me feel better, in an instant, chose instead to never speak to me again. Which was yet another blow to my very depressed mind. I remember crying for months). One of my friends suggested I find a hobby to occupy my mind… another friend, who regularly participates in Nano, thought that would be a great way for me to refocus and pull myself out of the funk I was in (my counselor agreed). And thus began my journey to write a novel.

Last Nano – I started 5 novels. Not on purpose! I had ideas galore going through my mind and no focus what-so-ever! Plus – I was finding it hard not to write about things that were going on in my life – so – nothing that anyone would ever want to read. There were good WRITING experiences that came out of last year’s nano (for me) – I learned a lot. Here is some of what I learned:

Get organized BEFORE November 1! -  Last year I decided to participate on October 31…

Pick ONE story and stick to it.

Write EVERYDAY – for at least an hour – no matter what!

Do ANYTHING that helps you focus – make a collage – listen to music – seclude yourself in a remote corner of your home…

Do NOT write about the current problems you are having in your life. No one wants to hear you complain. No one wants to read a depressing novel (or at least I don’t).

Do have fun with it! I told everyone I was writing (so that I could have support) – many of my friends asked if they could be in my novel – one of my friends, Perry, even helped to shape his character. I made him completely outrageous, so outrageous as a matter of fact, that I had to put him in a dream sequence. He is a  pirate, that wears a green eye patch and sings all of his lines. He has a dancing monkey as a pet.

I also have 5 novel ideas from last year’s Nano. I will eventually get back to them – at a time when I can take the emotion out of them and write. The ideas themselves are good – the emotion behind some of the scenes and characters I wrote, are not.

This Nano – I will be working on a completely different novel. One that I think will be fun and challenging. Nothing about my current life situation will have anything to do with this novel. And nothing about last years events will shape this novel. I will also be keeping up with this blog as much as possible.

This weekend – I will make my collage. I have already done many of the exercises on writing.com’s “getting ready for Nano 2010″ calendar – by November 1st – I will be ready to write my novel – 50,000 words.

As a Pittsburgher, I can’t help but use this phrase – HERE WE GO!