NaNoWriMo 2014 - After the Fact

There are always excuses for not writing enough, and I love the impetus that NaNoWriMo gives me every year to push past them - the online community, the word count update bar, the graphs, the word sprints, the friendly competition, the momentum that lives in the ether from millions of participants writing around the clock.... all great stuff.

This year, these were the obstacles I faced, in hitting my daily word count:

1. Got a new computer (yay) as a gift, on OCTOBER 30th. Had to figure out a new OS, install a ton of lengthy updates to bring the thing up to current par, re-install programs, files, etc. Spent several sessions at the Microsoft Store resolving issues. 
2. Got a new word program. I bought Scrivener! I didn't realize I could have saved half the price with a NaNo discount - derp. I like it! But, I'm still figuring out how to use it properly, LOL. I spent a lot of time looking for files and figuring things out. After a week, I gave up (temporarily) and installed my old Atlantis program to finish the NaNo project with. 
3. Work.  This isn't much of an excuse, there's always work, but I seemed particularly bogged down with details at work this month. My client load was up and down, but there was a ton of paperwork and stuff, throughout the month.
4. Social obligations. Again, nothing to complain about, but it ate up some writing time. Had a friend in from out of town for a performance, so I went to her concert and the dinner party the following day, as well. Had some other things come up, too; some fun, some helping others, all during writing time blocks.

That said, I did hit the Halfway Mark on Saturday, Nov 29th. And I am good with that. 

I thought about cranking out twelve hours of writing on Sunday the 30th to get to 50,000, but decided I just didn't want to. I might spend all day trying, not hit it anyway, and feel worse. Instead, I took a client before her Monday trip out of town and made some money. Then I worked on a different project I've had on the burner and finished a good section of that. Then I did some other budget stuff and things I needed to get done, so the day felt productive. 

So, I didn't "win" the goodies at NaNoWriMo, but I have 25,000 words of a story that I didn't have last month. I can work with that.

How about anyone else? Did you participate? How'd you do?