November has been and gone—so how did I do in NaNoWriMo, you may wonder? If you recall, NaNoWriMo is this crazy thing, with thousands of people all over the world participating, making the commitment to write a novel in a month. Or, at least 50,000 words—that’s supposed to be your goal.

When I decided to go for it this year, I knew I would never do 50,000 words. And you’re supposed to start a brand new project going into the month, whereas I wanted to work on the novel I had been very, very slowly laboring over for the past two years. I had written 30,000 words over those two years, but had no real idea about where the story was going. Maybe NaNoWriMo would be just the thing to kick-start me back into action, I thought.

It turns out NaNoWriMo is a very inclusive concept, and has a place for writers like me, who are doing their own thing during the month. There is even a name for it: I am a NaNoWriMo Rebel. So here is my report from the front line as a NaNoWriMo Rebel.

I set my goal of 30,000 additional words over the month. I made a commitment to write every day and aim for a minimum of 1000 words per day. Over the six years it took me to complete a draft of my first novel, I was working in a big job and had a teenage daughter at home. Now, I’m very fortunate; I am retired with no childcare responsibilities. So you’d think it should be easy to find time to write. But it’s amazing how much time gets filled up once you’re retired. I’m still doing some book promotion stuff for my first novel, plus I have volunteer commitments, walking the dog, maintaining the house—who knows where all the time goes, but it just does.

So I had to make a plan for NaNoWriMo. I had to figure out how to make writing a priority during the month, and what was going to give. Low-hanging fruit: social media time: such a time-suck.  My plan: to write first thing in the morning, and to not check my email or social media sites until I had written a minimum of 500 words. The other piece of prep work I did before the start of November was read over my notes on the novel-in-progress, listen to some podcasts—especially WriteMinded, with its NaNoWriMo prep sessions—and try a few exercises to flush out more about my lead characters.

But that was about it. There I was, saying I would go for it, but really having no idea how it would work out. I had no real outline for the rest of the novel. But then, at 4am on November 1^st, the most amazing thing happened. I woke up with a sudden revelation about one of my two protagonists, and where her story needed to go. I got up and started writing, and completed 1000 words before breakfast.

NaNoWriMo freed me up to write without striving to make everything perfect as I go along. I wrote scenes as they came to me, with notes such as [this will go somewhere, probably earlier]. If I came to something I needed to research, such as what movie or songs were current in 2006, which is when this novel is set, instead of hopping over to Google and getting lost down a rabbit-hole of searches, which is what I would normally do, I just inserted [√] for me to return to later.

NaNoWriMo also offers a supportive community of other writers, both virtual and in real time. I attended a kick-off meeting late October at a local library, with over 40 people of all ages and colors, working on all kind of novels, some first-timers, others who have done it every year. There were ‘write-ins’ at coffee shops and libraries, where you could sit with others and write—although when I went to check these out, there was either no one there, or only two people who stayed maybe half an hour. So I mostly wrote at my desk as I usually do.

But every day I would log on to the NaNoWriMo website and clock my word count. I wrote at least 1000 words a day, often more. By Nov 10, I was at almost 15,000—half my goal for the month! Many days I would feel like I had hit a wall, and had no idea where to go next. But I then had new inspiration during the night. I kept a notebook by my bed, and made a few quick notes, so I was ready to move on in the morning.  It was incredible how much creative energy was unleashed by this daily writing.

By Nov 27, I was at 40,000 words. With the original 30,000 words I already had, I felt like I was almost at the end of the story: just a bit more to go. Then other writers posted on social media that they had “won” NaNoWriMo by completing 50,000 words, winning a certificate and t-shirt. My competitive side almost sucked me into thinking I, too, could maybe get to 50,000. I even had a momentary thought of “cheating” –by copying and pasting 10,000 words from my earlier draft into my current document. But no. I wasn’t going to cheat. I didn’t need a new t-shirt. But I thought maybe I would get to 45,000.

It turned out the universe had other plans for me for the last few days of the month. On Nov 28, I developed acute appendicitis and was rushed to emergency surgery. (I’m fine now, thanks). But I was addicted to my writing habit. I lay on the gurney in the emergency room, an IV catheter in one hand and pulse oximeter taped to the other, trying to scribble a scene in my notebook before they whisked me off to surgery.  But that was it for the next two days. On the 30^th, I was back at my desk and cranked out some more, finishing the month at 41,500.

And now, I have copied in my earlier document, and I have a draft of 75,000 words. Thanks to NaNoWriMo I have a real novel draft to work with. It has been a wonderful experience. I loved it. I rediscovered the joy of creating something out of nothing, of pulling the words together on the page. Some of what I wrote was crap, and of course it will need a lot of editing and refining, the beginning will have to be totally re-written—but some of it is pretty darn good. I am very happy.