Day 3 of NaNoWriMo and whilst I’d like to say I’m on a roll, I can’t. I’ve met my daily quota on the first two days but nowhere near as much as I’d secretly hoped to. I can write fast but I’m working on trying to write well at the same time. Today was a tough slog.
Editing is not my forte and so I want to produce a decent draft. One that yes, will need editing, but not rewriting.
So what exactly am I writing during NaNoWriMo 2019?
Drumroll please.
Trust No One
Rosy Harding is about to discover everything she believed in is a lie.
Whilst on compassionate leave, she agrees to help look into a girl’s death, then the world around her starts falling apart.
Friends become enemies, enemies become allies.
When the murderer comes to light, Rosy must decide whose side she’s really on. That decision could be her last.
Loyalty and betrayal – two sides of one coin.
<——>
That’s the NaNoWriMo story in six short sentences.
Is it normal to feel nervous and excited? The nerves are causing bouts of writers block – not that I believe in that. But they are putting on the pressure.
Just breath. You can do this.
Start writing. One. Word. At. A. Time.
Go.
The Challenge Begins.
50,000 words in 30 days. A novel in a month.
Fear and excitement battle it out inside of me. Together they make a fierce combo.
We should do more things that scare us. More things that excite us. That’s the way we grow.
The idea of spending a year writing a book is mind numbing. That’s enough time to lose the plot. Forget the characters. In a year, the entire story can change and one day you sit down and realise you’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve been there, done that. I don’t want to do it again.
I want to write fast and I want to write well. With time both of these are possible.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
That’s one of the reasons I love NaNoWriMo. It forces you to write faster.
Considering the prolific authors in history, writing 1667 words a day is not fast nor is it groundbreaking, especially when there are writers out there writing 3000 words a day, 5000 a day, some are even chasing the 10,000 mark.
Why? Why the pressure?
Well put simply if writing is your job, you treat it like one. If you work in any other job, it’s a 9-5 gig. That’s eight hours. Imagine what 8 hours of butt in chair, five days a week would do. Sore butt, yes, but also a decent sized chunk of words. Even if you only wrote 10 wpm (average is about 40wpm) you’d get 600 words in an hour or 4200 words in eight.
See what I’m getting at?
So NaNoWriMo. With a full time job, a family and a fairly busy social calendar in November, writing eight hours a day is not realistic. I still need to get some sleep peeps, as most of you do. The challenge is to simply finish the book, make sure I write every day, and meet the minimum word count required.
That’s good enough for me. Anything extra is a sweet bonus.
Yes, I could take a holiday, give up the social life, and hand over the reigns of the house to my husband, but that’s not realistic long term. NaNoWriMo works better if you simply adjust your habits and start writing.
Write everyday, and keep it up long past November, that way you’re likely to continue all year long.
The Stats
Current Word Count:
5016/50,000 (or 10.03%)
Currently Reading:
The Art of Not Falling Apart by Christina Patterson
Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
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