About an hour ago, I typed “the end” on my first NaNoWriMo project, provisionally titled Get Out of my Head!, crossing over the 50k goal in the midst of the denouement.

A full eleven days before the deadline. And I owe it all to spending way too much time living in hotel rooms.

I’m reasonably sure I want to write a bit about the process in depth later, though for now, I can say I had a lot of fun trying my hand at novel writing. I managed to learn a lot about the structure of the form, and got a different perspective on what goes into creating a coherent narrative of that great length, certainly more than I would ever learn merely by reading. I think I’ll try again someday.

I also surprised myself – I believe I did better than I thought I would the first time out. While what I’ve got will never be suitable for publication for y’know, actual money (though maybe after a couple more revisions, I might post it here one day, just for kicks), I really, truly believe that it doesn’t completely suck. That in itself says something.

Anyway, to celebrate the milestone, shortly after saving it, I answered the phone, and spent 17 minutes participating in a survey, full of “How often would you listen to a radio station that sounded like this?” questions, including 60 second clips of song excerpts. There was lots of No Doubt, T.I., Daughtry, and Miley Cyrus in some samples, lots of Aerosmith, Skynrd, The Eagles and Rush in the others. Then, as the questions continued, it narrowed into Miley, No Doubt, and the Eagles. It merely reminded me how utterly crappy radio is in my market. That’s why I listen to NPR and CDs full of mp3s.

Why didn’t the guy ask me to suggest some types of music I’d like to hear on the radio? I’m sure I’m the only person who’d choose a station that plays a mix of They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton, The Replacements, Katy Perry and the Wailin’ Jennys, but at least somebody in the market would know that somebody enjoys a little more variety than the three all but identical formats spread across seven stations, if you don’t count the country ones.

What does this say about me, you ask? I think it says that I’m really lonely all by myself in this hotel room.