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NaNoReWriMo

NaNoReWriMo: Keeping Up The Writing Momentum

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I am not going to ‘win’ NaNoWriMo.

But I feel like I’m winning my NaNoReWriMo project. I’m currently on 32,407 words – more than halfway, yet with quite a lot left to write.

And you know what? I still love what I’m writing. Every time I’ve read over what I’ve done so far, to keep it all in my head, I’ve found myself with renewed enthusiasm and the urge to write more immediately.

I’ve made somewhat consistent progress over the month, writing on more days than not. My lowest daily word count was 54, my highest 5,078. Generally, when I wrote, I managed around 1000 words, picking up more towards the end of the month.

Skipping the boring bits

I started out rewriting this novel from scratch without much of a plan besides the goals I outlined. I didn’t write an plot outline because, having attempted this novel before, I already had a plot in mind, but I wanted the freedom to make changes if it felt right.

At this point, I have planned out, loosely, the rest of the novel. It follows the same arc as the first version, but I’ve simplified the sequence of events and ruthlessly refused to put in any of the boring parts. I listen to the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin and the most recent episodes have involved a lot of talk around the theme of ‘skip the boring bits’ – both in writing and in life – and so that idea is never far from my mind.

It helps that I wrote it on a sticky note and stuck it to the bottom of my computer monitor.

What’s next?

The NaNoWriMo website reckons if I carry on as before, I’ll finish on 17 December – but my goal is to complete this first draft by Sunday 10 December.

I want to finish this draft before we get far enough into December for my social life to become a problem. I love the festive season and want to be able to enjoy it without part of me wishing I was at home working on finishing my novel!

So I will carry on staying in my office for a couple of hours after work, and I’ve booked some time off work as well so I can devote whole days to writing.

I’ll blog again and let you know how I get on!

NaNoReWriMo: Back on the Writing Track

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After another day almost-entirely off-

-I say almost-entirely because I did open the document and add a few words, maybe 20, but I was too tired to update the NaNoWriMo site- today, after work, after maybe half a hour of procrastination, I started writing.

Next thing I knew, it was 8pm. The corridor outside my office was dark. Everything was quiet. I’d written 2,966 words. Emerging from my flow, I felt suddenly hungry and tired and desperate to go home, eat dinner, write this blog post and go to bed.

There were two things that I think helped me get into this state of flow.

I’d filled my well of words

I’ve written before about my theory that I need to read a lot in order to write a lot. I spent much of the weekend, and all Monday evening, reading to finish the book I was reading for my work book club.

I reread everything I’d already written.

To be honest, I was starting to feel my enthusiasm flag. But rereading what I’d written so far reminded me how exciting it was to write, and encouraged me to continue. I made very few changes to what I’d already written, which was great. I found myself full of confidence again and when I’d finished reading through it I immediately started typing.