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 8
Words Written: 3,149
Total Word Count: 13,429
Goal: 50,000
Today was, by far, the best writing day I’ve had in a long time, and especially over the past 8 days. My goal when I set out for the day was just to hit the daily goal of 1667. I obviously wanted to be back on track but after two really poor writing days I was just looking to hit the daily goal without stressing myself out.
But I hit about 1400 words before 6:30AM and I was feeling really good about it. I wrote a few hundred more before it was time to get ready for school. After school drop off and a grocery run, I went to the library. In the first 20 minute sprint I did over 700 words. I did a second sprint and was over 3000 words for the day.
I was especially happy because it didn’t feel forced at all. I really enjoyed the scene I was writing and feel like it’s actually something that will turn into something amazing. This is the feeling that I think writers look for when writing. It’s not forced, it’s not stressful, it feels like a story moving directly from your mind to the page without really putting much thought into it. When I was little and wanted to be a writer, this is the enjoyment I got from writing. That was the feeling I wanted to chase for the rest of my life.
I’m being poetic about it now but it was actually a great feeling that I’m really happy I’ve had the chance to find again. It’s been a while since I felt good about writing. It’s nice to know that a daily writing practice has been able to bring back the fun in writing. Hopefully it stays that way.
Until tomorrow,
-Mackenzie
