At what point does starting NaNoWriMo become a little stupid? I only ask because I finally put cursor to blank page on my NaNo project for the first time last night. Starting a week late – that’s manageable, right?
In my defence, I’ve been rapidly trying to finish the third draft of another novel. October went a little crazy and I didn’t get it completed as quickly as I thought I could. It didn’t help that my characters went off on rather tremendous tangents, turning the novel into something that I hadn’t been anticipating when I sat down to write. However, that’s the joy of writing for me, and the third draft always seems to be the moment where an idea solidifies properly. I couldn’t deny that it needed to be written and completed before I started NaNo and, so, it was.
That leaves me where I am right now. With 1,079 words in the bag, I’m currently 12,254 behind where I need to be today. Admittedly, that might look like a mountain to climb, but I’m a very stubborn writer. The stats tell me that I only need to write 2,127 words per day to finish on time. Now, that’s a piece of cake. While working on my third draft, I accidentally managed 6,964 words in a day. If I can do that without thinking, surely I can get back on track with NaNo before the month’s out?
Anyway, things have only just started and, already, my characters are telling me where I’m going wrong. I wrote the first scene with the intention of the action moving elsewhere and, while it has, that elsewhere isn’t where I intended it to be. I don’t suppose it’s a surprise – the best part of NaNo is seeing where the mood takes you, right?
I hope that my fellow challengers are on track or ahead by now. I’ll look forward to catching you up!
