Wednesday, November 1, 2017

National Novel Writing Month: Day 1

(I chose this one for a reason)


Ahoy mateys!  It's been a little while, yes, yes, it certainly has (no idea where that came from).

Like every year since 2014, I am partaking in National Novel Writing Month.  2015 was my shining year when was I was finally able to call myself a winner (and I bought the winner's shirt to reward myself).  Last year, not so much.  I started off and maintained a word count that had me ahead by about 5 days, but the worry of job hunting and starting a new relationship put it on hold.

If you read my last post on my story of winning NaNo in 2015, you know that one of my tactics is 'No Excuses'.  That's the most true statement when it comes to finishing NaNoWriMo.  Do I follow it?  I obviously didn't last year.

However, this year I'm approaching NaNo differently.  I'll go over some of my tactics this year as I go through the journey of trying to accomplish my mission this year.  Don't expect a new blog post every day.  Jeez, don't you know it's wrong to spoil your children?  But every now and then I will post about something I tried this year and whether or not it's working out for me.

Day 1 has concluded with 2,033 words written.  I probably could have written more, but, to be completely honest, work today was not my favorite, and I just didn't feel like writing more.  Don't get me wrong, I'm already ahead of my daily word count, I woke up early and wrote, I wrote a tiny bit at work, and I even wrote a little bit while in the waiting room to see my psychiatrist.  2,033 words on the first day is pretty good.  Last year was similar.  Looking at the stats from last year, though, at the end of week 1, I had over 24,000 words written.  My word count was technically supposed to be at 10,000 words.  So where did it all come from?

During the first week of NaNoWriMo I like to write in sprints.  I have the most energy to write at the beginning of a writing challenge, as I think most people do.  I try to write as much as I possibly can in as short a time span as I can so that further down the line when I reach days when I don't have time or energy to write, I'm not horribly behind.  I may even be able to take a day off if I needed it.  In all truth and reality, what I end up getting on the page is probably worse than the first draft of a tropey YA novel, but word vomit that gets you further than you should be during the first week is better than having 6 days to write 15,000 words due to a concussion you got by putting on a sock (it happens).

You want to be careful not to burn yourself out too much.  I tend to get sick of what I'm writing pretty quickly, especially if I've been obsessing over it for the past month prior to when I'm supposed to start.  But getting in a huge word count in during the first week will allow you a day or two to refresh yourself and your creativity to get back into writing it again.

Will I be able to pull off over 24,000 words in the first week like last year?  No, absolutely not.  Why?  I had no life last November.  I was a recent college grad whose summer and weekend job had just ended for the season, and I spent my days crying over the possibility that I wouldn't have a full time job by the time my parents' health insurance ended, ultimately feeling like I would be a failure and low-life nothing in their eyes and in mine.  It's just dandy being a millenial with depression and a generalized anxiety disorder. 👍  The only great thing was that I was writing, forgetting my woes and troubles by studying Victorian culture, and finally dating again.  Oh, and my favorite author emailed me back the day before NaNo started giving me advice on how to battle writer's block.  That was nice.

In the end, sprint writing has helped me during NaNo.  There is no doubt I'll feel burnt out by the end of next week, but I'll know that I will have a short blanket of time to recover without worrying too much about how far I'll get behind.

Has sprint writing ever helped you guys?  Let me know down in the comments how you like to spend the first week of NaNoWriMo!

Also, I have created an Author Page on Facebook!  Feel free to check it out and give it a like!
https://www.facebook.com/JMKnehr/