NaNoWriMo
I almost forgot. Last November I participated in National Novel Writing Month NaNoWriMo. Before writing the 50,000 words for the "contest" I had never written more 5,000 words. I don't know yet what I'll do with the novel, but I definitely grew as a writer. I write characters and settings in greater detail than before and my short stories are getting longer. If you're curious here's the link http://www.nanowrimo.org/