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in the nano homestretch

Cyber Monday? How am I supposed to get any writing done with all these online deals? This is terrible. Just terrible. Clearly, some sort of reward system is in order. If I write 2k, I can shop online for a bit... something like that :)

So here we are in the homestretch for NaNoWriMo. How did that happen? In a year that has flown by at a shocking rate (I'm told maternity leave will do that to you), this month has disappeared right before my eyes. Weren't we just doing the costumes and candy thing?

I'm definitely not on track to hit 50k. Back on November 1st, I knew there was a 95% chance this would happen. I have a baby to care for after all, plus, I do almost all of the cooking and cleaning (and grocery shopping, etc) at my house. I have a pretty full schedule and it's the kind that you can't just ignore, as much as there are times that I'd like to. I also found myself under the weather this past week, which does not do much for the writerly brain :(

As things stand today, with only five days left, I'm sitting at a mere 27, 079 words--that's just over half of where I "should" be by the end of the week. I know I won't catch up. I'm not going to pretend that I might. If I didn't sleep and ignored a lot of things that I really shouldn't ignore, I probably could, but I know I won't...

Way behind, but my overall slope isn't too bad! I'm staying fairly consistently behind.
All of that said, I'm still quite pleased with what I've done so far this month. I'm not going to "win" NaNo, but I am carving out a good chunk of a book I'm pretty happy with. What matters to me as we wake on day 26, is that by the end of the week, I'll hopefully have managed to write over half (I'm aiming for 60-64k total so my goal is 30-32k) of a book I think has real potential. To me, that's more valuable than 50k words I feel unsure about. And I'll gladly sacrifice "winning"for what I've written already.

I know NaNo is an all or nothing thing in terms of the "official rules", but I'm definitely in the camp who sees NaNo as an opportunity to get a little extra support and feel the encouraging embrace that only comes with an entire community of authors writing at the same time. It's a time to do what you can with the time that you have, and shoot for your own personal goals, regardless of what those are. A time to forge ahead instead of hesitate, to write instead of plan. And I think there's plenty of value in that no matter where you find yourself on November 30th.

How is your NaNo project going as we head into the homestretch? Are you happy with what you've written? Was it harder/easier than you thought it would be?


2 comments:

Andy said...

I should pay more attention to this NaNo thing. I didnt realize you uploaded your novel and got a certificate if you finished 50K words. I may have to push to get to 50K, but I dont think it will be possible. Probably will finish around 45K-48K. Will probably keep writing for december, maybe I will finish it by Christmas.
I have to admit it has been fun, more than a little stressful, and consumed a lot less time than I thought it would. Also helped that my boys have slept through the night a lot better this month than last month.
I think I am just past halfway through the book I am writing. At least it feels like I am halfway done. If I had to guess I think it will end up around 70K, perhaps a little more. It will easily be the most I have ever written. Than I have to decide what to do next, didn't plan on doing anything with it but doesn't feel like I should just delete it. Guess I will try to edit it and rewrite anything that doesn't feel right.

Unknown said...

I'm so glad you've been enjoying it :) Yes, if you do reach 50k, you can get a certificate, but if you don't, you still have what you wrote (and that's way better than a certificate if you ask me!)

You definitely shouldn't just delete it when you're finished! Even if you don't do anything specific with it, you can always keep it and share it with your family. It's really something to be proud of!