NaNoWriMo Update

First, congrats to those who have reached the 50,000 word count and won NaNoWriMo!

A big, heartfelt WOOHOOOO!!! to you all. (I'm looking at you Donna Weaver :) I am so very proud of you!

As of today, Wednesday, November 21, 2012 I have a total of 8,243 words. Not jaw dropping by any means but I am proud. Most days I start my regular schedule at 5:30AM and don't have a moment to sit until 8:30 in the evening. That's when I start writing. There are some nights when "butt in chair" meets "head on desk." Last Friday night, I was on the desktop in my computer room and my 16 year-old was on the laptop. After a while I heard, "Mom, you're sleeping!" I was slumped to the side of my chair with my eyes closed. Not a very productive night.

According to my NaNo stat indicator I'm 41,757 words behind, which means I'll finish my novel on March 7, 2013. Okay then. March 7, 2013 it is.

I didn't mean to turn this into one of those me, me, me posts that I try to avoid. The point is, I'm not trying to justify the fact that I'm not going to win NaNoWriMo. I knew that on October 31st. I'd like to direct you to Tasha Seegmiller's blog post titled Success and Failure. Her last two paragraphs (before the bolded questions) are exactly how I approach November.

Tasha's awesome words:

So, to those of you who thrive on cranking out words at light speed, I applaud you.  I'm in awe of you because I'm not now nor will I ever be that fast.  And to those of you who are a bit more like me, just remember the key is to keep moving forward, writing our best in the way that allows that to happen.  And while we sit on the side of the freeway, watching the other writers fly past us with MS's in hand, we can still celebrate our progress as well.

In September, my word count was 0

In October, my word count was 0

November, so far 8243

This month, which is not by any means over, I've pushed myself to write every day and I'm seeing results - real results. And I'm ecstatic! This story is taking shape and I'm pumped to continue this pace even past November until the story is finished.

To those who have finished or are well on the way, I'm in awe of you. Well done!

But if you're like me, dreadfully behind, and you're thinking, "Why bother? I'm not going 'to win' NaNo anyway. I say, "You're wrong." You've already won. Keep going! We'll 'not win' together!

Are you still deep in NaNoWriMo? Tell me how it's going.

NaNoWriMo Update

It's been 4 days and I've written 790 words.

Now I could have written, I've only written 790 words, but you know what? That's 790 words that I didn't have written last Sunday and so I'm holding my head high.

Yeah, so I'm not flying. Truth be told, the NaNoWriMo isn't about reaching the magical 50K mark at the end of the month for me. Personally, I can't do it and I know that. What the NaNo does for me is it gets me excited about writing again. The anticipation in October, the planning of something fresh and new, the thought that thousands of others are pushing themselves to achieve a writing goal at the same time...that's what makes it fun for me.

I write when I can and make myself write during those snippets of time during the day when I usually say to myself "I don't have time" to start now; the half hour before work when the house is empty, the half hour when I get home, 15 minutes after supper, a paragraph before bed. All of these times add up and move my goal forward.

I'll push myself a lot this weekend, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch up. I can't write nonsense for the sake of reaching a certain word count. Not that I hold that against anyone, of course. Everyone has their own method, what works for them. Turning off my annoying inner critic and putting butt in chair is how I benefit from the NaNoWriMo.

Whatever your personal goal is, good luck, whether you're a NaNoWriMo-er or not. As for me it's back to work. I took a nap today so I could stay up later tonight. I'm hoping to reach 1,000+ before bed. Wish me luck!