If you're gonna fail, do it quick. And, if possible, epically.

One of my Year 29 goals is over, but 89% incomplete. You see, it is officially December and National Novel Writing Month has ended. My novel? Only about 11% done.

Am I sad that I didn't get this done? Not really. Am I disappointed? Nope. Am I glad I participated? Hell yes! Especially since I have a lot of useful takeaways:

• I'm not a "little woman." Let me explain. The novel that I just finished reading before embarking upon writing my own novel was Little Woman. I was heavily influenced by Ms. Alcott's storytelling techniques and writing style. The thing is, as I said, I'm not a little woman. I don't have the long-winded story that spans years in me. My attention span is that of a [insert something with notoriety for short attention spans; I can't google something clever right now - I know I'll just get sidetracked and distracted and won't finish this blog post. SEE WHAT I MEAN!?! Case in point.] I'm a writer who writes blogs, so reading a long book for the first time in months really left a strong impression on me. The impression wore off, though, and I was stranded with a semi-interesting story that I had no interest in pursuing. D'oh!
• For the first time ever, I really delved into a lot of deep character flaws that I possess and see in other people. In writing. It was a weird feeling. I didn't like it very much. It made me sad.
• I should only write about happy things.
• And I should only write short stories.
• General observation: it's hard to keep details straight without some sort of outline. Five paragraphs down I would find myself struggling to remember what color outfit I had put the characters in. D'oh!
• What was the story about? It was about a boy named Jonathan and a girl named Leah who met at UC Berkeley during their senior year. They both had to take the same Anthropology course in order to graduate. She was a high-strung, type-A business major who came from a disadvantaged background. She was going to graduate from Cal and head off to Stanford for her MBA. He was a laid-back, carefree guy from a small family that wasn't very tight knit at all. He was a bit of a lonely, free spirit. He was going to backpack through Europe after he graduated. Your basic English major without real drive and ambition. My writing stopped right about here, after I explained their backgrounds and the first day that they met. They would become best friends, in spite of their major differences, because sometimes you're just drawn to people without really understanding why. They're both perpetually in relationships, but he has absolutely no desire to marry or have children.
  
  At this point, I had a lot of random ideas that popped into my head as to what would happen. I was in complete agreement, however, that they would connect through the written word while he was abroad, philandering, and she was in business school, kicking ass and taking names. Their emails and occasional phone calls would be what ties them to be stronger than ever once he returns. (This entire part of the novel would be actual emails and phone calls, so the omnipotent narrator gets to take a break.) But what happens in the future? My random ideas:
  
  - He gets into a car accident while driving with his parents home from a wedding. They're both dead and he's severely injured with chronic pain problems. This leads him to spiral into depression and she futilely tries to help him. He eventually kills himself. His suicide note would be about 5,000 words long.
  - She gets engaged to a nice guy. She finds out that she's pregnant with his child before they get married and they're both ecstatic. She has a miscarriage and Jonathan helps her deal with it, but she never quite recovers.
  - Leah confesses that she's in love with Jonathan. And so they risk their friendship to test out a relationship - how bad could it be? They end up breaking each other's hearts and Leah's main talking point was that Jonathan would never commit to settle down. They break up. He ends up marrying someone else, and starting a family.
• Again, I should only write about happy things.
• And short stories.

Well, the writing is on the wall for this chapter of my Year 29 goals. (Oh, puns.) Will I participate in Script Frenzy in April? Maybe.

Oh, but another two takeaways:

1. Since I have proven to myself that I am, in fact, capable of writing full sentences and expressing emotion and tone with words and not relying on emoticons, I will strive to write more. Even if it's just on the blog.
2. As "punishment" for my (epic) fail, I have decided to write at least one thank you note everyday in December. Preferably handwritten, but hopefully not as ridiculous as this. Feel free to join me in this project because giving thanks makes us enjoy things all the more.