Today is day number fourteen in the NaNoWriMo calendar for 2014, and this morning I reached my first 50,000 words for the month of November.
I’m excited! Partly because I won NaNoWriMo, but mostly due to the fact that I made it halfway to my overall goal for November before the actual middle of the month. I set myself up to write at least 100,000 words because that’s just a little less than I like my short, quirky novels to be, and it felt like a reasonable goal to get the majority of the project I’m working on, Promises, Promises, as close to first draft fabulous possible before the end of November. 100,000 words would give me time to work on other things, like editing for clients, blogging, and promotion on my other books, while still granting me plenty of wiggle room to write all the words I wanted to write.
Because despite the chaotic, hectic spiral of my schedule sometimes, I have to write every single day.
Cover of She-Hulk (vol. 1) #1, textless variant. Art by Adi Granov. (From Wikipedia)
I set really high writing goals for myself every month because I go a little mad if I don’t put words to the page and give the voices in my head a trampoline to bounce around on. I feel edgy and raw, stir crazy and anxious. It starts to feel crowded inside my mind, and when it gets crowded in there, I get really stressed out. Getting stressed out means I don’t sleep, and not sleeping pretty much ensures grouchiness. Grouchiness leads to a really bad attitude that more or less turns me into She-Hulk, and people don’t like me very much when I get angry. They start shoving Snickers bars at me, which just makes me grumpier, and that’s no good.
This month feels really good. I feel like I have a good handle on my project, (though if you read through my daily NaNoWriMo blogs, it looks like I nearly threw the manuscript out the window.) The story feels strong to me, the characters compelling and I’m still super excited about it after more than 50,000 words. Huge bonus!
Do you write every single day? If so, what keeps you motivated? If not, is it because you don’t have time? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
The Write Stuff 
Wow — I’m impressed! I’m at 28,000 words as of today, with my goal being 52,000 by Thanksgiving. I write short little barely-novels, so that will be a completed first draft.
It’s been a push to get that far, since I’m doing a lot of editing as I go, but it’s also been fun spending so much time writing because it leaves me less time to decide that what I’m writing is crap. I don’t write quite every day, taking a day off now and then, but aim for 2,500 words at least five days a week. As for motivation — the idea that I could have a finished product in my readers’ hands by the Christmas rush is pretty motivating…. 🙂
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Very nice, Aimee. Good luck finishing this first draft by Thanksgiving. It’s so interesting to hear about everyone else’s process. We all have our different methods, our own motivators. I love the idea of having a finished book the most, though! 🙂
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HolyMoly, Jenny! You GO, Girl!! I’m very impressed. And proud of you, too. AND…tada!…INSPIRED by you, as well.
Yes, I do write every single day, and sometimes on two projects at once. I’m editing and revising the sequel to Wake-Robin Ridge right now, plus working diligently on the sequel to Swamp Ghosts. I’d rather just lose myself in one, but I’m behind on the WRR sequel, A Boy Named Rabbit. If I hadn’t lost about 3 weeks in the early fall, I’d probably have that one pretty close to publishing, and then could concentrate on Hunter.
What keeps me inspired? The ticking clock, more than anything else. I’m very aware of the fact that I don’t have years and years in which to tell my stories, so I just don’t want to waste a single day. Besides, I like writing a lot more than cleaning, doing laundry, cooking and those other things that can fill up your whole life, if you let them. So I sit here and I write. And let Siri tell me when it’s time for me to take a break and walk around a bit to get the circulation going. My ankles tend to balloon up, otherwise.
I’m with you on the voices in my head, though. They talk to me ALL the time, sometimes getting down right belligerent if I don’t get in here and write down what they say. So, another motivation is my own sanity. 🙂
Thanks for a great post, and again, congratulations on ROCKIN’ NaNoWriMo!
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Thank you, Marcia!
I have been known to work on more than one writing project, too, but in the last two years I’ve really tried to maintain focus on one at a time. I have a short story that is paragraphs away from being finished, but I haven’t touched it this month because it’s just not on my radar. I want to finish it so I can put it out there, but at the same time, I want to finish this novel! And the novel hasn’t always been cooperative. I do a lot of editing for clients, so sometimes that factors into how many different works of my own I can juggle, too.
Personal sanity–the best motivator of them all! Gotta keep those voices happy, or they rebel. 😀
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Congratulations
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Thank you, Tienny! 🙂
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Jenny, you are welcome 🙂
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Very impressed, Jenny. If you read my prose about the event on this very same blog, you’ll see that I’m far behind. It’s fine with me, but I admire your productivity. Bravo!
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Thank you, Evelyn.
I think the fun of NaNoWriMo is just getting the words flowing. A lot of people take it all very seriously, but if you get too serious about word counts and spreadsheets and pushing yourself, it takes the fun out of writing, and in the end the fun of storytelling is what makes it all worthwhile.
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You always encourage me on your updates – very proud of your dedication. My heart is in writing but not enough time as I am still struggling to find my balance again. When the timing is right though, I do know God will put the words to my fingers and I will write away – smoke coming from my computer!! 🙂 Glad to see you a regular here on The Write Stuff.
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