Saturday November 12, 2005, 2:30 am. 18 days 21 hours and 30 minutes until deadline
Word Count: 34,155/ 15,845 until goal of 50,000
Well I'm nearing the end of the second full week of NaNoWriMo and I think I've cracked the back of the monster, gone over the hump, the end's in sight, home is where the heart is: okay the last cliché didn't fit but what the hell, you're not going to hold that against me are you? I think I'm allowed a little leeway on the silliness front considering how well it's going.
Yesterday I was looking at the word count when it rang up, and I realised that I had significantly less then 20,000 words to write, and for the first time I think that I genuinely believed that I would complete this process. That was really cool because when I set out on this adventure I had no idea how it would go.
If you go back and read any of the earlier posts in this series you'll see how I rattled off all the usual doubts about whether or not I had it "in me" to actually write 50,000 words in a month. Could I maintain the story and the characters and my own interest in them for a long enough time? I had nothing on paper; no outline, no character sketches, not even names for the various races, countries, and people involved.
With none of the props that professional writers use at my disposal I'm totally relying on inspiration as each day of writing starts. Ironically the days that I've discovered hardest, in that I struggle with getting the story out, are the ones where I have left off in the middle of a chapter. I seem to work my best when I can start the day completely fresh with a new idea.
It's funny because I know other people deliberately like to leave off in the middle of something so that they can pick up where they left off. I actually feel impatient and want to finish it because it feels like yesterday's thought, and I want to get on with telling the story, and my next thought. It's like I've skipped ahead in the story, and then gone back and read something I already know about because I had read ahead.
This week has also been a bit more of a slog for me. In the first week I seemed to be able to sit down and the words would just pour out without me thinking. I never had to search for the right phrase, the appropriate word, it was always there waiting for me to use it.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
I'm glad to hear the words are still coming and your project is coming together. The story sounds very interesting to me, and I'm looking forward to getting over to your blog and reading part of it soon!
I also enjoyed hearing how the process works for you, I am fascinated by how similar and different writers "work".
2 - Eric Olsen
The very concept of NaNoWriMo laves my brain reeling, awash and aswim. I write so fucking much everyday I can't even imagine trying to conjure up vast quantities more from my bettered imagination. I salute thee, g-man!
3 - DrPat
I am chartreuse, jade and emerald with envy, G-man! (My latest NaNoWriMo tactic - streams of adjectives, boosts the word-count immensely!)
Hey, I'm a crunch producer. Usually. Just takes the right motivation...
(Man, my daughter may beat me this time! Gotta get WRITING!)
4 - Lisa McKay
I'm ashamed to admit that I signed up for the first time this year and quit before I began - how sad is that?
I was hoping an exercise like this would prove to me that I could produce a certain amount of verbiage every day, but the thought of doing so on top of all of the other things I don't have time to do overwhelmed me. All of you who are sticking to this have my complete and undying admiration!
5 - Bonnie
Gypsyman, I salute your over-the-humpness. I am sitting here, reading this, instead of boosting my NaNoWriMo word count. With 13,664, I am starting to sweat a little, but I'm still optimistic. I find having this goal -- and knowing that it's a collective enterprise -- is really motivating.
The other thing that my brain keeps spitting at me a lot is a comment Neil Gaiman made when I saw him in Toronto. When he finished writing Anansi Boys, he tried to go back and examine the difference between the things he wrote when the words flowed and when they had to be forced out; there was no difference to be seen. For me, that's was a huge realization, because it takes away one of my excuses not to write (because, let's face it, waiting for the muse is just one step up from waiting for Godot).
6 - vikk
Bonnie brought up a good point about writing even when the muse is absent. I've had the same experience looking at past writings as Gaiman noted.