The Month That Tyler Drank Way Too Much Coffee

Forgive the long post title but as I was sitting here thinking of names, that one was the first to pop up. Plus, it is oh-so-true.

July was the month that Holli Anne and I decided to crack down and finish our books. It was the month that I stayed in front of my computer for an abnormal amount of hours, stressed about daily word counts, and (again) drank way too much coffee. 

But, it was also the month that I finally finished a first draft--an accomplishment I'm extremely proud of and that makes my heart happy.

Camp NaNoWriMo

When I joined Camp at the end of June, I was pretty pumped. First off, I'd never been to any real camp (yeah I was one of those kids who hated being away from home, so sue me) so I was looking forward to the camp feel even if it was online. Secondly, it was thrilling to sign up and fill in all the information about my work in progress. Something about writing the book's title and genre out just made everything seem so real.

Then came the whole word count mess. Easy, right? Just pick a set amount of words for the month and at the end of each day put in how many you'd done. I picked 40,000 words and LET ME TELL YOU THAT'S A LOT!

I channeled my college days and, as you can see by my graph, I waited last minute to do the biggest stretch of writing. Also you can see a standstill three days at the beginning when the holiday spirit took me and didn't let me write.

It's A-OK, though because I FINISHED!

The good, the bad, and the ugly of July

The good part about this experience is, well, obvious. I made a goal and I worked my ass off to meet it. Writing books has always been my biggest dream in life and I finally decided I wanted it enough to work harder and longer (that's what she said) than before. 

I also was surprised at the support from friends, family, and strangers (other Campers and my Twitter cult). I was cheered on daily and had tons of offers from people who wanted to help me meet my goal. For that support, I thank all of you!

Not to mention, there was Holli Anne--my rock. We talked/bitched every day about Camp and our books. She was/is my book sister in arms! Thanks, #twin!

I have to give another shout out to my dear friend Rachel who was also by my side (okay, well on Facebook) every step of the way. From "does this sound okay" to "should I have killed them" to awkward sex scenes and paragraphs riddled with profanity, Rachel read more of the book than anyone else! She even made me celebrate with Cupcake Sangria! Thank you, Rachel!

The bad of July and Camp in general was the stress to produce high word counts and the rush to finish on time. It stands to fact: things that are rushed usually suck ass. If this had been a second draft, I wouldn't have given myself such a concrete deadline. However, since I did, there are some parts of the book that need to be rewritten PRONTO. Plus, there are definitely a few "Write more here, KTHANKS!" reminders throughout the 67,000-word beast.

The ugly of July? Probably the second to the last day where I threw my hands up in defeat, starting crying, then promptly took a long ass nap. I thought the book was horrible, the plot was cliche, the characters boring, and the twists not OMG enough. That was the low, ugly point of July. (Thankfully, Boy Tyler assured me I wasn't shit and neither was the book. Thanks, Boy T!)

What's next?

Second draft, homies! Then I'll start begging beta readers to go through everything! PUMPED!

Until then, I'll be back to blogging!

Here are two post I'll be doing this week: The Wasted Book Club Announcement (you can sign up here) and a synopsis of my book! GET PUMPED, GUYS!

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)