If you caught my post on November 13, you already know that this year’s attempt to write a novel in November got off to a rough start. By “rough start” I mean, as of then I hadn’t really started.
If I wanted to write about Real Estate Drama, I had plenty to inspire me. Our flip house went on and off the market more times than a (I’ll spare you the colorful analogy). And our tenants moved out of our Hutto house, leaving a mess behind (of course). Thanksgiving was spent in Marietta, Georgia. The 2,000 mile trip was a blessing…and a curse, at least with respect to my selfish desire to write a novel.
Because I’m an engineer, I think some stories can best be told graphically. Here is a plot of the target 1,667 words per day, compared to my actual results:
If it looks like I had a slow start, you’re reading this correctly. When we left home on November 22, I was approximately 30,000 words behind schedule. When we got back home on the 27th, I was only about 25,000 words behind. I was catching up!
I then proceeded to run a marathon at a sprinter’s pace. I wrote 10,000 words per day for three days. I stayed home from work on Monday (28th), but I went into the office and worked the next two days. When I wasn’t in the office, I wrote as if my life depended on it. Who knows? In some respects, maybe it did.
I didn’t need NaNoWriMo.org to tell me I’m a winner, but a little affirmation never hurts. I must pass on credit where credit is due; I had tremendous support from family and friends, who never lost confidence in me (or at least, they never let on, if they did). And, I trusted that if God wanted this race won, He had what it took to get me across the finish line. In the end, to God goes the glory.
If you’re keeping score, this is my 3rd NaNoWriMo completed, but I can’t claim to have finished a third novel. I have a few chapters left to write before the story is done. I’ll post an update then; we’ll see how well I do writing the last few thousand words. Technically, this race ain’t over ’til it’s over.
Pingback: Running with Perseverance « CEC: A View from the Pews
So impressed with your 10,000 words a day. I thought I could be pretty productive but that puts me to shame! Good for you. Now finish that baby, then edit, edit, edit and get it out in the world!
Thanks, Anne. I appreciate your encouragement!