NaNo and Plotting Follow Up

So November has come and gone which means that NaNoWriMo has come to an end as well.  I have to give myself a "not too bad for a first try" rating.  I ended the month with 33,500 words, leaving my novel at 57,625.  It's not as good as I was hoping for, obviously, but, in the end, I added a hefty chunk to my novel and that's what matters.  And I'm full of excuses like holiday excitement and a painful trip to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth removed to placate myself ;-).  I learned some good things to take into consideration when I try next year.

The other thing I need to follow up on is how plotting out my novel went/is going.  I love it!  I think I'll stick with starting letting the cards fall where they may for the first few chapters so I can get aquatinted with the characters and the story before I really decide where things are going.  I also have to say that I am very proud of myself for sticking to the flexible rule.  I combined ideas that were supposed to be in different chapters and added several unexpected twists that presented themselves as I was working along.  It has been a great tool for not forgetting scenes of awesomeness before I can get to them.  I caught myself jumping ahead chapters several times and my outline brought me back to the right spot in no time.  It also made it so I didn't get stuck for days at a time, trying to figure out what the next best step to take would be. Once one chapter is done, it's easier to jump right into the next one.  So as of now, I am a believer in flexible plotting.

I started on my post about my muse, but I need another night of sheer hyperness to get it going.  That is just not a post you can do while you're calm or surrounded by other people.  I also have a section in my novel entitled blogging awesomeness so I have plenty of material to keep myself and hopefully you entertained in between potty training, trying to finish my novel, Christmas shopping and work (just call me Super Mom!  Haha just kidding.  One or more of those will probably get put off until the last minute, but hopefully not)