The Monthly Report: I 'lost' NaNoWriMo
December 2023
After taking a break from my usual posting schedule it’s time to get back to business. You can expect all the regular features to return this month, and for Fintan’s story in Battles Beneath the Stars to start up as well.
You may have noticed that the logo for the Warthog Report looks a little different now. I didn’t quite like how it looked in a line up of substack logos and wanted to at least a tweak it a little. White backgrounds feel a little too default, almost unintentional at times, while a colored one is clearly a choice.
I had one idea for the logo change I had to drop. For the spaces between the lines of the w, I wanted there to be symbols of the different focuses of the newsletter, fantasy, mythology, and video games. Then I saw that level of detail doesn’t work with the size the logos are displayed at. Oh well.
In other news, the Warthog Report now has an official tumblr. I already had one that doesn’t take much effort to link back to me, but I didn’t want to promote my writing and get into fandom discourse on the same blog.
NaNo ‘Post Mortem’
One thing I usually emphasize when talking about National Novel Writing Month is that the goal is designed to be flexible and a little absurd. I did not get close to the 50,000 word count goal. However, blotting out the time to work on the project helped it solidify, as I mentioned in my post about it. So I feel meaningful progress was made even without a complete draft.
NaNoWriMo Special: About My Project
As I said at the beginning of the month, I’ve both suspended non-fiction for this November and plan to write about what I’m writing instead. So in place of an edition of Let Me Talk To You About, let me talk to you about the story I’ve been writing for NaNoWriMo.
Part of why I didn’t reach the word goal was also due to a detour in writing. There’s a part where a character reads a piece of mythology in the secondary world setting, classic case of a story in a story, and I got the idea to post that nested story here. So I’ve been editing it for that purpose, which in turn is helping clarify the broader narrative around it.
Also after a certain point I couldn’t ignore that I had a serial that was starting up again next month. In hindsight a two month gap for NaNoWriMo might have made more sense so I could truly focus on just the NaNo writing, especially since December is another busy holiday month. But two months is quite the hiatus so I don’t think I’ll do that next year.
For now, let’s look ahead to the next month.
Meaningful progress? That sounds like a win to me. Also really like that you made a tumblr for your substack. I have considered doing the same. So many strategies and tasks, so little time.
Well done for writing in NaNo! Were you writing with a group or on your own?