Drawing from the Well
We have crossed the rubicon.
It’s officially November which means Movember!
Okay, truly, November means NaNoWriMo and I am in and I’m going to win. We talked about this recently but the time is here. Although I didn’t finish 100% of the mapping (well over 95%, though, so plenty enough to get through NaNo) or all the character profiles (more than half, so, again, enough to get going in NaNo), the time has come to begin drafting! I write this blog on the morning of November 4th before I start trying to hit my daily word goal, so we’ll look at progress for yesterday.
So you can see I’m behind but not by a huge margin. The NaNo website says I need 1706 words today. I want 2,736 to catch all the way up on that dotted line graph. I’ll keep this relatively short and get back to it.
Filling the Well
I thought I hadn’t finished any books since my last blog because the books I’m reading now are NOT going quickly, but I was wrong. I finished Vortex Visions AND Stormsong. The latter was okay but the former was great. It was to the point that I bought the boxed set of the Vortex Chronicles so I could keep reading and find out what happens. It’s great. As for my new audiobook, Elantris is, well, a lot. It’s Sanderson’s first novel and everyone’s introduction to him. I could have started with Mistborn or The Way of Kings, but I wanted to start at his oldest work. It’s heavy but engaging. We’ll see how it goes. I know he can write well because of what he did with The Wheel of Time (so stoked for the Prime Series in a couple of weeks!). I look forward to seeing that magic here.
Well Chat
I know this blog is late, but NaNoWriMo started Monday! My focus has been squarely on that, but I wanted to pop in, let you know how I’m doing so far, and drop a note.
Last week, I talked about lowering your standards to lower your anxiety. Today, I offer the counterpoint: the uphill climb.
Sometimes you can’t, or don’t want to, lower your standards. You give yourself grace but still hold yourself accountable for what you want to accomplish. This is how you can get things done, but it often comes from a place of working from behind.
Like I am right now.
My first day of NaNoWriMo (find me here) was outstanding. I smashed through the 1,667 pace barrier to add the first 2,000 words to the Book III manuscript. Were they all good? No. That’s the first draft for you (lower your standards, lower your anxiety [last week] AND ALSO it’s okay to suck [next week]). That isn’t the point. The goal was to write and I wrote.
I haven’t hit goal since.
Granted, this is the morning of the Fourth and there’s plenty of time, but there is still that dread that I won’t. Ever felt that? So, as I discussed last week, I could lower my standards, but that means not WINNING NaNo. That’s not okay with me. So, I’m using this uphill climb as inspiration. I’ve written many thousands of words a day. I’ve broken 10,000 in a day once. I can catch up. It’s going to be work and it’s going to be hard, but I’m here for it.
Am I anxious? Absolutely. I’m trying to shove that down, for now, and get into my Pomodoro Happy Tomato Zone and get it done. I’ll let you know how it goes, but you can do it too. If you’re behind on your goals, whether writing or otherwise, you have a choice: you can lower your standards or buckle down and get it done. It’s up to you.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG