NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and is held every November. It’s a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days (or 1,667 per day). Writers and wanna-be writers come together with a common goal to write novels, short stories, memoirs, whatever it is they’ve been putting off or need a push to get started. This year I decided I would document my daily writing practice as I strive to finish a draft of a novel I’ve been taking far too long on.
Day 20
Words Written: 2,152
Total Word Count: 33,368
Goal: 50,000
I DID IT. I got back on track. And with 10 days left to go I can see the end is near. I have plenty of ideas, plenty of energy to keep going, and I’m even more motivated now that I’m caught up and can write a manageable 1666 words per day instead of trying to push to 2000 or more like I have been for the last week or so and still not feeling like I’ve done enough because I hadn’t hit the overall goal.
I have been remaining relatively positive even being below the goal, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it as I was writing or later in the day when I had a minute to myself. I felt a guilt that I should be writing to catch up when all I really wanted to do was watch Netflix or just do nothing. I don’t know if being on track now will take that guilt away but it should help me have an “excuse” to give myself.
When I start to feel guilty that I’m watching Schitt’s Creek instead of writing, I can tell myself I’m on track, and to just trust in the process of the 1666 words. I guess we’ll see tomorrow if I can put the guilt aside.
But, the only thing I know for sure is that I’m actually having fun. I like the story I’m writing which, I don’t think I’m the only writer to say this, is not always the case with first drafts. So often I like the idea of the story, but as I’m writing I start to second guess everything and things go astray. And while I know there are going to be a lot of edits and rewrites and things to tweak or tighten or add to, I think the bones are good. I think the arc and the characters are showing through in a way they didn’t on my true first draft that looks absolutely nothing like this one.
Hopefully if you’re writing you’re feeling good about your story and you’re able to get into the creative groove as I’ve been able to.
Until tomorrow,
-Mackenzie
