NaNoWriMo 2020 Update and Thoughts on Writing

 

Writing is hard. I can understand why it takes some authors years to write a novel.

I am no where near where I should be with writing my novel this year. If I write 2,887 words a day through the end of the month, I just might make my goal.

Fun fact: This is actually the best I have ever done with NaNoWriMo. Every year I do it, I write a little more. Maybe by the time I'm 40, I'll have written a whole novel...

Anyway, there are a few things I let get in the way this year:

1) Work. This is the thing I let get in the way of a lot of things. I'm better than I used to be about it but I still have a long way to go.

2) I got sick. Just a mild sinus infection (not Covid) but between that and long hours at work, I have been so tired I've fallen asleep on the couch.

3) I lost my love for my novel.

This last point was weird. I started with a thought of what I wanted to write about and where I wanted it to go. That's usually how I start: An idea of what I the story I want to tell and a basic idea of characters. I've known writers who have done outlines and character sketches before they write but that has never worked for me. I have to just start writing and my characters will tell me about themselves and how they interact with the world as I write. It's kind of fun when it happens this way, like getting to know a new friend. There's also something a little bit more exciting about watching your story develop before your eyes. 

That last part may make me sound a bit crazy. Just trust me, it works better than me deciding exactly what's going to happen before I start typing the story. 

But I'm not sure I've written my story very well this time. I know the point is just to get it down on paper and then work the kinks out later but I just lost my mojo with it.

So what exactly happened? Well, I was writing a scene and I started realizing I was sympathizing more with the character I didn't like (you weren't supposed to like her) and less with the main character. To change it, I would have had to go back and re-write the entire chapter. This is doable but kind of an overwhelming task. Especially since it would have put me in negative word count for the day. So I put it away for awhile.

Then, with everything else going on, just the thought of going back and fixing it just soured me on it. "I'll do it later, when I've thought of something to do." "Not right now. I'm not in the right head space."

That brings us here, to the point where I have to write nearly 3,000 words a day just to get 50,000 words out for the month. Also an overwhelming task. (In case you are wondering, this post is only 531 words so far.)

But this is one of the reasons I have this blog. Writing things out and sharing with you helps me clear my head of clutter and decide what I really want to do. I think I'm going to try to persevere through the story. I think there might be a way to save it if I put my mind to it. After all, I won't know if I don't try. And if I really want to become a best-selling novelist, I have to actually write a novel.