RSS

Tag Archives: NaNoWriMo

Writing in November

31 Oct
Nabob and his new girlfriend!

Nabob and his new girlfriend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Halloween. Tonight at midnight, the real crazies will come out. They will be strapped to their computers and notebooks, writing as fast as they can. Motivated by that magical number 50,000, they will band together in small groups in coffee houses and restaurants for support. They have kissed they significant others goodbye, told their friends to call them in 30 days and gone into self-imposed exile from the rest of the world. November is a crazy month for writers. NaNoWriMo!

I sat down to write a few days ago and banged out what I think will be the beginning of the climax to my WIP. When I saved the file, it dawned on me how close I am to the end. Sure, there are a few spots in the story that I need to beef up. But, the light at the end of the tunnel does not appear to be a train racing back at me.

I write slow. That’s who I am. 50,000 words in 30 days is not something I want to even try. I understand my limitations and November is the worst month of the year for me to try it. A friend of mine said it’s not the word count that matters. It’s the count of GOOD words that’s important.

So, what does all this mean? I only need a portion of the magic number to finish my WIP. Even though it’s November, the muse is knocking on the door. Nabob has settled in with his new main squeeze. And, most importantly, I want to see how this thing ends. My intention is to finish my WIP by December 1. I’m not sure what the final word count will be and frankly, I don’t care. To make sure I stay on track with this and get my blog going again I will provide weekly updates. Please feel free to give me a hard time if I drop the ball.

For those of you who will disappear tonight and return in 30 days, good luck to you. I wish you well.

 
5 Comments

Posted by on October 31, 2014 in Thoughts on Writing

 

Tags: , , ,

21 Days to a New Habit

19 Dec

How many of you NaNoWriMo winners have continued to crank out 2,000 words a day since December 1st? 1,000 words? 500 words? Threw the computer out the window and swore never again would my fingers touch a keyboard? If you have continued to write every day since 12/1, regardless of the word count, your are ahead of the curve.

Two grand a day is a lot of flippin words. Especially for someone with a full-time job or with several kids in the house. I’m not sure I could do it for a week, let alone a month. My hat goes off to you who did it. But, the real takeaway as I see it, is if you wrote every day for thirty days, you created a habit. Whether you want to believe it or not, you did. The experts say it takes twenty-one days to create or break a habit. Even if you did not reach the ultimate 50,000 words, you sat down and wrote something every day for thirty days.

So…since you went to all that work to create a habit, are you going to let yourself slip back into your past self?

I realize that, with my snail’s pace typing skills and my need to pay the bills and keep my wife smiling, I will not create 2,000 words a day anytime soon. However, I am three days away from creating a habit of writing every day, averaging 500 words a day, and moving my WIP forward in the process. The plan is to continue this habit going forward. I keep finding ways to put writing off and then I kick myself in the butt and go to the keyboard.

Creating the habit is the tough part. Forcing yourself to do it no matter what takes sadistic discipline with masochistic tendencies. Those of you reading “50 Shades of Whatever” can jump in here. Once you reach the 21 day mark, you have dealt with the majority of obstacles that might come your way. Why stop?

I will see if I can finish creating a writing habit and maintain it.  I will comment once in a while on my progress.

My question for you is this. If you created the Writing Habit and let it get away, why?

 
10 Comments

Posted by on December 19, 2012 in Thoughts on Writing

 

Tags: , , ,