The countdown as begun. Only two weeks to go until NaNoWriMo* begins. That 50,000 words in 30 days frenzy that is otherwise known as November for the non-writing part of the population. It is fun and frustrating, satisfying and nerve-wracking. And after succeeding last year at the challenge, I have been looking forward to it all year.
So now you ask; if you succeeded at last year’s challenge, where’s your novel?
Good question. December is an insane month for me. I have four children, my birthday and Christmas and Christmas break fall within those 31 days, and I work retail and I shouldn’t have to explain what happens in a retail job in December. In other words, as soon as November ended, I took a break from writing. As soon as I did the critical voice in my head was given room to speak and she is even more of a talker than I am. I’ve tried and tried to pick up the story again with no success. First I worry that I started the story too early, then I think I didn’t start it early enough; then I worry that I need to spend more time with one character and less time with another one. And all that is on top of the word by word criticism I give everything I write. And the next thing I know, I am screaming at the computer and slamming it shut. And not writing another word for weeks.
This year I am going to try to get all the way to the ‘actual’ end of the story and not just the 50,000 word mark. With that in mind, I am going to try to get 100,000 words done in 30 days. It is a big goal to set but I know I can do it, if I can just get out of my head and write the story as it flows through my subconscious.
Keep up on my progress on my NaNo profile page here or on Facebook here and let me know what you think.
*For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month
