I beat NaNoWriMo by hitting 50,000 words on Sunday, November 22, 2020. Coming from a stressful week two where I couldn’t get the words to flow this was a nice change of pace. I did struggle once I hit 40,000 but once I hand wrote what I wanted to happen it helped tremendously. The biggest struggle I faced during week three of NaNo was dialogue. I didn’t know if I was adding too much dialogue. I would write a sentence, reread it, then I would delete it quite often during week three. Don’t get me wrong, I did that a lot during the first two weeks of NaNo too but I feel it was excessive during week three. When I hit 50,000 words I felt my heart drop. I honestly didn’t think I would beat NaNo by week three. I guess writing 2,000 words (or more) benefitted me more than I thought. Unfortunately, just because I won doesn’t mean my story is done. I still have to finish up the chapter I started and write the epilogue. My goal after I finish my first novel is begin editing and then share with Alpha and Beta readers. I don’t really intend on querying or self-publishing this book but I do want to share it with the people who supported me through NaNo.
Drea's NaNo Reminders. If you’re sitting at a computer or hand writing in a notebook for hours on end get up and stretch. While constantly writing I felt my hands cramp up and my body get tight. I set a five minute timer and I used that time to stretch particularly my hands. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? How is your progress going?
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Week two of NaNoWriMo was a lot harder than week one. I’m still on track to get to 50k by the end of the month but this week I suffered from writer’s block and I was super distracted this week. I’m at the point in my work in progress where I know where I want the story to go but I don’t know how I want to get there yet. I guess that’s the struggle that comes with being a pantser. Yesterday, I decided to handwrite some notes for the chapter I was working on and it helped but I still didn’t finish 2,000 words until 8pm. It was kind of a bummer because I wanted to finish my desired word count before Fear the Walking Dead came on but I finished a few minutes before I laid down for bed. My goal for this week is to get to 40k. I think I’m going to start handwriting more notes and hopefully that will help. I usually handwrite my stories first then transcribe them to my word document but apart from my ten chapters of outlining I haven’t hand written anything. Maybe seeing the blinking cursor on my word document is giving me anxiety and that is triggering my writer’s block. I’m going to test this theory and hopefully get to 40k by the end of the week! I managed to get to 33,135 words for week two.
Drea's NaNo Reminders. Take necessary breaks and engage in self-care. If the words aren’t coming out don’t torture yourself just because you need to hit a certain word count. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? How is your progress going? Let me know in the comments! It's my first year participating in NaNoWriMo and I've decided to blog about my experience during NaNo. For those of you who don't know, I currently listen to a podcast called Hot and Bothered and they challenged their listeners to write a romance novel. I took that challenge seriously, and decided to write an adult contemporary romance for my very first NaNoWriMo. I won't give any spoilers to my story. I just want to give a quick update. My story is rough! It is so hard not to go back and edit. If I'm going to get to 50,000 words I need to keep writing. My daily word count goal is at least 2,000 words. So far, I've achieved that goal. Before NaNo started, I outlined 10 chapters of the story. I anticipated those 10 chapters would have taken much longer to write, but I was mistaken. I finished those 10 chapters in the first three days. I tried so hard to be a planner but I hate outlining with a burning passion. I'm a pantser at heart. I like torture myself by going in blind.
There were days I did not feel like writing but I sucked it up and fought through. Luckily, writing is a form of self-care for me. However, if you're not feeling it make sure you take care of yourself first. I've decided that in these weekly blogs I will remind you all to take care of yourselves in a segment called, Drea's NaNo Reminders. This week I want to remind you to remember to hydrate. When writing 50,000 words you get distracted and forget to drink water. I know I did so please hydrate while writing. I finished the first week with 19,126 words. I still have a long way to go but I'm excited to continue this journey! If you're participating in NaNoWriMo how is your progress going? |
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November 2022
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