Things I Learned From NaNoWriMo

I learned...

• +that I have the ability to write a novel-length piece of fiction.
• +how to manage my time better, stop procrastinating, and just DO it already!
• +that if I take a day off of writing, I have a much fresher, more active, more productive brain the following day.
• +how to write even when I don't feel like it, at all.
• +how to just truck through a story without stopping to edit every little thing the first time through.
• +a few things about character and plot development.
  
• +that I need a lot of practice with character and plot development.
• +that I'm not as bad as I feared at character and plot development.
• +that it's really, really hard to write well about places and things about which you know absolutely nothing, especially when you don't have the time to go research it.
• +that I'd definitely prefer to write sci-fi or fantasy or something fictional and exciting instead of chick lit.
• +how characters manage to do things without the author's permission...if you don't give them permission, they'll sit in a corner and pout until you write what they want you to write. It sounds crazy, but it's true.
• +more from this month-long experience than I would have in some classes, and I didn't have to pay more than my time and sanity for this.
• +that I can finish what I start, even if it isn't for payment or a grade.
• +that dialogue is really, really easy to write if you know your characters, which makes long, unnecessary conversations really good for increasing word count.
• +that I have it in me to write every day or almost every day, and could therefore become a professional writer after all.