I started this weekend almost 10,000 words short of where I ought to have been (to be exact, 9,733 words short), and it was difficult to find the motivation to keep writing. I was honestly the biggest de-motivator too. I couldn’t really blame friends or family or even the kitties on that. I kept telling myself that I didn’t really plan to catch up, and how much writing it would take to make up for that large of a word gap. You can really see it in the missing day and the low word counts below too at first. I think I have a mixture of resources to thank for keeping me going.
Mostly I think it was reading the Reddit Nanowrimo forums that helped. It’s super inspiring to look through at the other people who are already hitting the 50k deadline, and hear their happy stories. It gave me just the nudge I needed to keep going. Especially hearing people who were making up for larger word shortages than what I had. In addition I remembered there was a Write-In I’m planning on attending tomorrow. I’ve never actually been to one before. I went to the meet and greet session back in October and really enjoyed it. It’s funny how as an introverted writer you kind of dread meet-ups like that, but after you attend them you find they’re actually a lot of fun and you get to meet some amazing people. I guess writing is like that though. You don’t get a lot of time to be able to talk to real life writers in person very often, and it’s inspiring to hear how other people have to juggle their lives with their writing goals and dealing with various setbacks along the way.
Anyway, that too is motivating me. I’m really looking forward to the meet up tomorrow. I couldn’t go to the first Write-In because I was sick, and this is the only other one they’re doing. Peer pressure is a powerful tool, folks. It’s kind of cool to use it in a positive light.
I’m still behind. (5,358 words total actually, and by tomorrow it’ll be 7,025 – oy!) However I’m still in this race, and I’m not about to give up. The NaNo site says I have to write 2k words a day to catch up… for today’s word count at least. Looks like I have a busy half month ahead!
Here’s the progress on my YA other-world fantasy novel about urban explorer Shaleigh Mallett who is whisked away to the Land of the Fae. Along the way she encounters living statues, friendly minotaurs, and a backstabbing ruler. When she gets tangled up in a love story that can’t possibly end well, Shaleigh finds herself forced to make a difficult choice that could change the future of this new land, and prevent her from ever getting home.
Project: Madam Cloom’s Garden
Current Word Count: 72,266
New Words Written:
11/12 – 0 Words. 🙁
11/13 – 783
11/14 – 1,704
11/15 – 2,940
11/16 – 4,768 (Aw yeah! 😀 )
NaNo Word Count: 21,308
Progress: Minotaurs too can catch you off guard. It’s best not to underestimate them. Time to attend a party in the clouds, but one filled with much dizziness, nausea, and fear. The beautiful scenery makes up for it a little at least.
Next up: A backstage pass that shows a little more about how broken this society is, a terrible wound, and a dangerous test.
Commentary: In all, I’ve written 7,708 words this weekend. I’m super happy about that even though I haven’t caught up yet. Even if I don’t reach the deadline, this has been an incredible experience to see how many words I can push out when I have some motivation behind me. I’ve purposefully not been skimping on the grammar either, because this is going to be a more polished draft, so really I’ve just been putting more hours in. The house may not be in perfect shape, but this manuscript sure does look good!