NaNoWriMo 2020: Failing with 20,000 words

It is now the eleventh hour on November 30th, and with just 20,004 words, I have officially failed NaNoWriMo 2020.

The main reason for my lack of progress was an eleven-day hospital stay in which I was unable to write. I was stuck before then, but eleven days without access to writing material was the nail in the coffin. I'm disappointed in myself. I had an ambitious goal and I failed. But I decided to fail as well as I could, and this morning I did a 2,000 word sprint to 20,000 words over a Panera breakfast.

I meant to share this news before my hospital stay, but never got around to it. Since it fits with this blog post's theme of failing well, I'll share it now.

For those of you who have not heard of Pitch Wars, it's a massive writing competition where writers submit queries and first chapters to potential mentors (who are published authors/editors). These mentors then help the selected mentees polish their manuscripts and queries. Pitch Wars ends with an agent showcase where a number of past mentees have been able to land book deals. I had heard of Pitch Wars before, but never considered submitting until a fellow Scribbler Box subscriber put out a call for anyone who might be submitting this year to join a group for accountability/critique/general cheerleading. I decided, why not?

I'd been meaning to write a query for HANG ON for awhile, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. My submission to Pitch Wars was my first attempt at writing the darn thing. I got my first chapter ready, wrote a synopsis (and that was HARD), and submitted right before the deadline. Once my submission was in, I heard there had been over four-thousand submissions. Ouch. I did not like those odds. So I expected absolutely nothing to come of it.

Imagine my shock, awe, and excitement when I got an email request from one of the mentors I submitted to asking for the first fifty pages! I was floored. 

And I questioned absolutely everything in my first fifty pages.

Needless to say, since this post is about failure, I submitted but I didn't make it. Now that the official mentees have been announced I feel more comfortable sharing this small bit of exciting and yet sad news. 

Even though I didn't make it, I'm proud that I tried. I'm proud I made progress, however small. I'm so, so thankful that someone was willing to give my story a little nibble, and I'm happy to have reached 20,000 words on my latest project. The noveling does not end when the clock strikes midnight on November 30th. I'm still in the race. 

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