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 2
Words Written: 1,753
Total Word Count: 3,445
Goal: 50,000
Day 2 and I still feel good. I woke up this morning planning on running/going to the gym but instead spent the morning snuggling on the couch with a sick boy watching Super Wings. I was able to write a good amount while we sat together so instead of writing later in the morning it was mostly done before 8AM.
I finished the last 250 words or so after my husband took Amelia to preschool. So i spent the rest of the morning with Andrew writing, doing some other work, and then doing yoga which had a few funny moves that Andrew had to try out.
I don’t normally write super early in the morning. If I am up at that time I’m usually getting my workout over for the day. If I am awake to work then I usually do work that doesn’t require much effort because I have a hard time feeling awake or creative at that time. But this morning, even after a slightly fitful night of sleep with a snotty child, I felt excited to get started. I don’t think I would have felt this excited to start so early yesterday.
And I think that’s one of the main benefits of NaNoWriMo. It forces you to have a daily writing practice which is great to just get the word count in, but also to keep the story active in the mind. The longer it’s been since you looked at or thought about a story, the harder it is to get into it.
And logically I know this, but I have a hard time actually doing it. I put it off because I think there are more important things to do but even taking ten minutes to review the story, take some notes, or think about a character could be helpful in keeping the momentum going.
So, hopefully, I can keep this going throughout the month and make the daily writing practice a real habit.
Until tomorrow,
-Mackenzie
