Week One: Survived
The first week of this year’s NaNoWriMo challenge is done. Wow. It feels like it has been so much longer than that already!
I usually take some time off work at the beginning of November to give myself a bit of a headstart. I love to dive in headfirst and just go for it, get that initial rush of creativity out without impediment.
This year has been different for a few reasons. Firstly, I had to use some of my week off work for family stuff before November. Secondly, we were all organised with the write-ins before NaNo started and kicked off with them as soon as November popped up on our calendars. So I went from family stuff straight into events and… haven’t stopped since.
I think out of a full week, I had one clear day to just sit and write. If you look at my pretty wordcount graph, you can guess which day that was (under NaNo Stats).
On Wednesday, I had a write-in at my house. Awesome turnout – I think we had about 15 people there at one point. I had borrowed an extra table and outdoor chairs from my folks, and wound up having to take my dining tables and more chairs outside too. My gazebo is fantastic and everyone had a good time – I had lots of bouncy responses on the NaNo forum about it.
On Thursday, I went back to work. I was so tired. Got some bad news there (those of you who follow me on Facebook probably heard about it – I won’t go into it here) and spent the day catching up and trying to sort out fallout.
On top of all that, I have spent the last few days struggling over a particularly gnarly plot convergence on the Apocalypse Blog. Finally, the threads I’ve been spinning out for the past few weeks are coming together and Stuff is happening. It’s been a struggle – there was a lot to get in there, so many pieces to fit together and balance. A single event has taken 4 posts to get through, and I still haven’t got to the end of it. Almost!
Not exactly the most conducive way to start NaNo – I like to get myself ahead of the game in the first week, so I can breathe a bit easier for the rest of the month. Gnarly plot wrangling means writing slower, which means I’m not as far ahead as I’d like. Last year, I was up to 20,000 words by the end of the first two days. This year, I’m at 15,000 words after the first week. Still ahead of target, just not as much as I’d like.
I shouldn’t forget that I have some additional challenges this year as well. All up, I’m doing good!
I am on track with posts. I’m aiming for two a day (so I can get through November and December’s posts in NaNo), and I just finished next Saturday’s posts. I have a buffer again. Wow that feels nice! It’s been so long that I had forgotten what it was like!
Another big write-in tomorrow. I’m past the really tricky plot stuff now, so hopefully the posts will flow a bit easier now. With luck, I’ll be able to hit some kind of groove in the coming week.
In the meantime, I have to return the table and chairs to my folks. Then edit and post today’s fun-filled AB instalment. The fun never stops here!
Comments are closed!