![\"wordcount2014-100k100-30Nov\"](\"http:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/wordcount2014-100k100-30Nov.png\")
<\/a>Regarding NaNoWriMo itself, I wrote a first half or so of a novel City in Flames, another apocalyptic \u2018The world in going to end\u2019 novel which will fit quite nicely into the, as yet, unpublished End Of Civilisation series. My writing pace was a bit all over the place (see graph to the side): the blue line is my daily word count, the red line the average over the month, and the greeny line is words ahead of \/ behind target. But it\u2019s done, and this is my 10th \u2018win\u2019 in 11 attempts. And, for the first time, I don\u2019t hate my story. Previous NaNo \u2018things\u2019 have been despised by me, and grinding out the words has been a trial. But not this time. I had a good story, I had reasonable characters, and an active timeline which makes the story work well as a thriller. At least, I think so. I\u2019ll be continuing to write this.<\/p>\nSocial activities? I went to the Essex NaNo group Kickoff party, and it was great to see some existing friends and meet new ones. Well done @em_biddulph for taking on the role of Essex ML once again, and for organising so many events. The NaNoEssex Facebook page was lively and interesting, too.<\/p>\n This year saw the official introduction of a Suffolk region, and as I\u2019m almost literally a stone\u2019s throw from Suffolk (well, a very hard throw of a very small stone), I joined that group, too, under the watchful eye of their ML, Sarah. I went to a few of their write-ins, and they had a very active Facebook page, too. I was happy to join a group of word sprinters on there to push my word count along. So the social aspects of NaNoWriMo were very enjoyable again.<\/p>\n Regarding #50k5days, I began the month trying to find 5 consecutive days where I could dedicate my time to writing ten thousand words each day, but that was difficult. So I announced I would be doing it piecemeal during the month. And then, I left it to the last minute, so I was using the last 5 (consecutive) days for writing this. I started day 1 with over 8k, then 10k on day 2, then a disappointing 7.4k for day 3, when real life got in the way. Day 4 was an almost complete bust at 2k, and at that point, I abandoned. But here again, I have what I think will make a good story, and the writing I\u2019ve done is as near as a good edit \/ rewrite from a finished draft as I\u2019ve ever done. So double positive.<\/p>\n And what now?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve started a \u201cWrite.A.Page.A.Day\u201d group on Facebook (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/write.a.page.a.day\/<\/a> if you\u2019re interested), with the intention of encouraging authors (me, mainly) to keep writing during the days and weeks after the end of NaNo.<\/p>\n<\/a>Oh, and thanks to a very kind offer, I have a cover done for me by Rivka Kawano over at http:\/\/www.authorsensei.com\/cover-design–illustration.html<\/a><\/p>\n