My November Short Story Project, AKA Why I Didn't Blog This November

Saturday, December 3, 2016


Hey, dear reader! How have you been? It's definitely been awhile, and I apologize for my longer-than-intended absence from blogging. However, I've been incredibly busy, both with work and a special little project I worked on during the entire month of November.

The project was this: I completed thirty short stories, ranging anywhere from 500-1200 words, one for each day of the month. This was my second year doing this, and it was nothing short of a great time.

I've attempted NaNoWriMo (writing an entire novel in a month) before, but I was in college and I had a harder time trying to fit writing into my schedule as a student. I did this project last year as an alternative to NaNoWriMo because I wanted to 1) have a portfolio of completed short stories, and 2) I didn't want to worry about word count, but instead, I wanted to focus on creating concise, but cohesive plots. And this year, I was determined to do it again.

As a writer, this project has let me explore writing about the genres I love, as well as stretching myself to write genres I'd never written before. And it had me working towards a very specific deadline, too; I finished the project at precisely 11:59 PM on November 30th.

So, what did I use to get this project done?

  • Scrivener - This software is absolutely fantastic, and is a must if you're a writer. (Seriously, I recommend this to any and all of my writer friends.) It was so easy to use this software to organize all of the stories as part of one anthology.
  • Pinterest - I get a ton of my writing ideas from Pinterest, and this month, Pinterest was a valuable resource. I also used other sources to get ideas, but Pinterest was a great jumping-off point for me.
  • My Bullet Journal - This year, I decided to use a bullet journal to keep track of my writing and my stories (see the image above). I was very much inspired by Kara at Boho Berry's NaNoWriMo Bullet Journal, and I collected a ton of reference material for use in my anthology. Plus, I considered it a huge help to have my short stories outlined and my plots ready before I started writing each story. It definitely helped me to focus on crafting each plot, not just coming up with one.

So, why am I blogging about this project?

I wanted to share this in case any of you readers wanted to try it next year (or for any month). If you're wanting to dip your toes in writing, this is a great way to do so, and it's a great way to expand your body of work. Plus, there are plenty of places out there where you can submit your finished works, too. And, hey, you may want to turn your short story into a full-fledged novel or series. :)

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo before? Would you want to try NaNoWriMo or a project like this? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

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