Tired but happy Camp NaNoWriMo winner, right here.

According to the Camp NaNoWriMo validation counter, I wrote nearly 31,000 in April. According to my count, it’s closer to 20,000 words plus 25 hours of outlining and structuring and such but, by either count, I met my goal of writing the equivalent of 30,000 words during the April 2014 camp season.

Of course, this is all a bit subjective, because I’ve been equating an hour spent working with the detailed outline of Bugaboo Road as 386 words of draft. (I’ll tell you, that’s actually a lot slower and harder than just writing all-out. Taking the time to do it, though, has cut down on sections that will just need to be scrapped in the end. At least, I think it has. We’ll see when this draft is done and the revision starts.)

I’ve been doing a little of both each writing day, with the outlining being most of the work at the beginning of the month, and straight writing being most of the work in the last couple of weeks. But now I’m nattering on about numbers and proportions when what matters is the project.

Here’s what matters:

I proved to myself that I can write a comprehensive outline, and about a quarter of a decent first draft of a 90,000 word project, in 30 days. And THAT is a big deal.

I’ve hit the 50,000 word goal in a normal NaNo month in the past, but the draft was darn near useless when I was done. This project, in contrast, has legs.

Now I just need to keep it walking.

I’m tired, and I have to work at the #paranormalhotel this evening. So I’ll draw this to a close so I can get a couple hours of sleep. Good luck to anyone who is still trying to hit goal. No matter what, though, remember tomorrow is another fresh, new writing day.