Accountability check-in time:
- I’ve given up calculating my time spent drafting. I pretty much average around an hour a day, but I’m not able to measure the time I spend thinking through issues and ideas for the storyline(s). So, I figured that measuring draft time only gives me a partially accurate amount for total time spent at work.
- I am still writing every day, but I haven’t always met my daily word count goal (once due to some technical difficulties with my computer that interfered with my scheduled writing time).
- As of Nov. 21, I’m at 38,939 words (?!!!!?!?!?!).
- Last week, I finally remembered to log in to my NaNoWriMo account to track my word count. I also gave my work a title on NaNoWriMo.org… Vacationland (but this may change. Scratch that. It will definitely change).
Last week’s goal was to get to work on the middle sections of the story so that the whole thing can start to take shape, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve come up with some subplots (too many, perhaps) and am fleshing out the characters. The main character would probably use some more work, I realized today. That’s a task for this next week.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, it looks like I’ll hit 50K within the next week (again, ?!!!!?!?!?!). Part of me knows that if I keep at it, I’ll make it. Another part of me asks, but what if whatever you draft between now and 50K is complete gibberish? If all I’m doing is racing to the finish line, will I cut corners in quality in that sprint? Which is a silly and completely self-defeating thought. NaNoWriMo in and of itself is a sprint and everything I’ve written could be complete gibberish, not just whatever is drafted between now and the 30th. This fact is somehow comforting. So shut up, unhelpful voice.
What about you all? Where are you all at with NaNoWriMo? How are you planning to finish this all up?
Gail Marie Cole 