NaNoWriMo Week 2

I’m a bit behind with these weekly posts, but that’s all just part of the general NaNoWriMo craziness! Now, let’s get to it.

Words      I’m past the halfway mark! Hurrah! In fact, my total word count is now creeping close to 30k, and I remain a teeny bit ahead of the target word count for this point in the month (more on that in a sec). However, I’m now reaching the point where my planning mostly runs out and I’m going to be winging it when it comes to ‘what happens next’. I reach this stage with every novel, of course, but the added pressure of needing to write every day to stay on track means finding the time for further brainstorming might be tricky.

A day off     In the middle of last week, I took a day off from writing to engage in a bit of early Christmas shopping. Now, I could actually have fit in my writing as well and I really wish I had. Although I was far enough above the target word count at the time to never drop ‘below par’, as it were, having a day off made it much harder to get into the writing groove the day after, and I feel like I’ve been trying to catch up ever since. I’m back to around 1000 words above the target at the moment, but it’s really felt like a slog to get there. However, I also need to blame…

The day-job     Didn’t I say my day-job was likely to be quieter in November? Who’s going to be looking for a B&B in rural Yorkshire at this time of year, I thought – and in this weather! Apparently, I was dead wrong, and November has been just as manic as the preceding two months. Whilst that’s great for the business (and our bank balance!), I’ve frequently had days where I’ve cooked, cleaned, baked, written and done nothing else. Of course, day-job + writing is the formula for the days of many writers who don’t write full-time, so I’m not complaining, but it does make me realise how much gaming, reading and TV watching I was managing to fit in before. I really wasn’t working as hard as I thought!

Week 3 is now upon us and I’m already wondering what it’ll bring. Will it be all downhill from here to the finish – or will something else crop up first?

2 Comments

  1. Thank you for this… I’m in the same place… Planning has run out, winging it place – glad I’m not alone! 🙂

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