NaNo21: Days 4, 5, 6, & 7

Whoo, didn’t realize it’d been so long since I last posted!

On Thursday, I was able to get 5k in, but then, due to stress and other factors, I only managed 2k on both Friday and Saturday. Tonight, I had really only planned to write another 2k, but 3k came out with ease, and I still had about twenty-five minutes before midnight to punch out another 1k to bring my November total to a cool 25k.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad for the progress. But this has to be the slowest NaNo I’ve done since I studied for an exam in 2016. Hard to admit that, but it’s true.

On Thursday, I did some stretches–which I desperately needed to do–but on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I was quite sedentary. At least on Saturday I walked a pair of dogs (I was dogsitting; one of the dogs was mine) a few times in the gorgeous semi-autumn weather we’re getting down here in Florida right now. It was a chilly 70 degrees for most of the morning yesterday, and today was just way too beautiful. I ended up keeping my windows down whenever I was in the car.

Better yet, I have practiced violin everyday this week, so that chain isn’t yet broken. I’m now preparing for a mini “recital” (it’s technically a performance class for the students who can’t make it to the actual recital in two weeks, yours truly included). I’m not going to lie; the idea of playing only in front of a handful of elementary and middle-school students is far less frightening than climbing onto a stage and playing in front of gobs of show-recording parents, but it’s still a little nerve-wracking. I’m a little shy about performing, and I’m a late-starting perfectionist with no God-given talent on the violin. It’s rarely pretty, but, hey, I love playing.

We’re launching now into week 2, and it’s getting real now just where in the year we are (it’s like a slap of a cold fish in the face whenever I walk outside and see the neighbor’s Christmas lights already up). I should probably set a goal for this week wordcount-wise, but I’ll have to think about it before I commit to anything.

Let’s enter week 2 strong and excited!

Nano21: Day 3

Well, today was just not a good day.

I slept in this morning for various reasons, but thought it would be fine not to get a head start. But I got stressed out about something that only worsened when I got home. I ended up trying to self-numb on YouTube for far too long before finally, FINALLY forcing myself to get up. I practiced violin for a while before some technology fell apart on me, and I got mad enough that I ended that and went out instead to take a walk. It’s a humid 75 degrees out–not necessarily ideal, but a cool breeze made it comfortable, anyway.

Then I just procrastinated. I didn’t start writing until after 11:15pm, and finished just a few minutes ago with about 2k words, bringing me up to 12k total for the month.

I’m hoping that tomorrow the cause of my anxiety is neutralized and that nothing more builds on it, but regardless, I’m going to fight to do a little bit better. We’re only on Day 3 and I already feel the Week 2 Doldrums!

I hope your writing has been going smoothly and that you’ve been free of distractions!

NaNo21: Day 2

It’s midnight, and I’m concluding today’s writing with, you guessed it, another 5k. That’s a total of 10k so far this month, which puts me on pace for 150k if I maintain my average (if you can consider two days a sufficient number of data points for an average), though I think I’ve decided I’m going to aim for about 250k. This will put me at 3.5mil words in total for NaNoWriMo events. I wrote only 1k this morning before work, while the remainder I churned out between 9-10:30pm when I was done with some household chores.

I’m starting Book VIII, so it’s been a bit slow (reintroducing, as quickly as possible, the cast and the situations), but I’m enjoying it, and the good stuff is coming soon. Just a few more chapters, and I’ll be hitting some scenes I’ve had in my head for literal years.

I also practiced violin for about 45 minutes and did a little more than 30 minutes worth of stretches and foam rolling, which my body apparently desperately needed. Bones cracking, knots throbbing, and my calves screaming in pain—well, it felt like they were for a bit there. Much-needed stuff. I’m liking the balance thing. Probably should do more of it even outside of November, but of course we know I won’t.

Though I thought I would, I didn’t mess anymore with my speech-to-text app on my phone today. Because I’m not going for a huge NaNo this year, it kind of feels a little unnecessary to get words down in the car. I’m sure, however, I’ll tap into it at least a few times this month, if it doesn’t become a regular thing. I’m looking forward to what the next few days will bring.

NANo21: Day 1

And so has begun my fifteenth NaNoWriMo!

It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for almost half my life. I had planned to go all out during this NaNo in celebration by aiming for the big 750k, but scheduling conflicts have made that nigh impossible if I want to survive the month. Instead, I’m aiming not for a particular word count (though my absolute minimum is 150k), but rather a balanced approach of writing, working out, and practicing violin consistently. I’m working on, surprise, my Long Story. In preparation for this, I started reading in February what I already have of the drafted saga, all 1.75 million words of it, and I just finished the reread yesterday. I had hoped to conclude the saga this year (I estimate, serendipitously, another 750k words remain in the story), but, alas, best laid plans and all…

As soon as it turned midnight, I wrote 3k at an average of 1k every 15 minutes. I’m pleased with that average, but would like to see it improve in general over the course of the month. This morning, in the few minutes of spare time before work, I snapped through another 1k. I tried to dictate in the car, but my speech-to-text app was malfunctioning, so I let it go. I think I’ve rigged a solution, though, so I’ll give it a shot tomorrow.

Work went a bit long because of a client emergency, and I had to cut my violin practice a wee bit short to pick up food (our refrigerator, bless it, died over the weekend and we didn’t realize it until last night—we replaced the relay and it seems to be working now). Then I poked around YouTube for a while before remembering that I was supposed to go for a run, which I did around 8:30pm. Then I poked around YouTube some more, cleaned up, and finally pumped out another 1k words before coming here to write this update at 11:30pm.

My hopes for NaNo21: don’t give up, don’t burn out, don’t settle. A wedding I’m attending in the middle of the month will eat up considerable time, as will dog-sitting next week, so I’m looking forward to practicing patience! The 750k might not be this year, but it’s definitely within future reach. And in the meantime, I’m fully devoting myself to having fun and being productive.

My NaNo username is merry_abandon if you’d like to buddy up with me. Happy writing, everyone! Let’s make 2021 everything 2020 was not!

NaNo20: Reflections

It’s been two weeks since NaNo ended, and I figured it was time to do my usual (sans 2019) statistics review because I love this kind of thing! Here is how NaNoWriMo 2020 went:

• Total words written: 150,051
• Most words in a day: 15,009 (11/26)
• Fewest words in a day: 1,204 (11/08)
• Daily average: 5,001
• First word/last word: Parken/interested
• Number of words past original goal (150,000): 51
• Number of words past previous best (606,606): -456,555
• NaNo Lifetime word count: 3,245,083
• Number of projects: 2 (one planned, one pantsed)
• Asked what could go worse for characters: 8+ times
• Average daily sleep: 7 hours

While 2018 continues to hold the record for highest NaNo word count and I wrote just a hair more (155,551) in 2019 than 2020, I felt a lot better this year than in 2019, and I was able to keep up with my other interests in and obligations. It wasn’t the year I’d hoped to have, but that was entirely due to my own frustrations with slowing down than with the slowing down itself. I just have to learn how to relax!

Now, you might have noticed the lifetime word count. I have a wonderful, terrible idea that is still just an idea. I was thinking of bringing that word count up to 3.25 million during a Camp in 2021. Why only 5k words, you ask? Because it would set up that number to make achieving 750k in NaNo2021 look really tempting. 750k would round me up to 4 million lifetime NaNo words.

The 750k is my next great goal, though it is almost 150k more than what I achieved during my best NaNo. I also worry that aiming for it will destroy me. After all, it’s 25k words a day on average. That’s a really good day. Having to repeat that for 30 days in a row is rather daunting.

Consequently, it’s just an idea. I’ll know better what my year will look like once we get into it and edge closer to November.

Nonetheless, 2020 has been a good year for me, and I hope that your NaNo experience was wonderful!

NaNo20: Day 30 Finale

The bells are tolling, the curtains are falling, my back is aching… yes, NaNoWriMo has concluded another year!

After a few hours of distracted toil tonight (and a great many more hours of utter procrastination during the day), I’ve brought my efforts to a close at 150,051 words, having written a little over 9k. That brings me to about 5k words fewer than last year’s outcome, but far from my worst showing. Especially since I waited so long to start (no surprise there).

I went super easy on myself this month, almost to the point where the usually thrilling challenge of NaNo was absent. Yes, I had moments of competitive go-getterness, but instances of compromise far outnumbered those of unrelenting discipline. That made it a challenge of a different order! It’s much easier to write a ton of words when, you know, you’re already writing a ton of words. There’s some level of accountability there. Likewise, there was some accountability to be nice to myself this month, which is relatively rare. I enjoyed things I don’t normally enjoy very much during November–exploring shops, decorating for the holidays, enjoying time with family–without worrying about how I would make up my lagging wordcount, or if I could finish one book and start on the next in a given evening.

And so, I’m claiming this NaNo as a sure victory. I might not have worked on the project I planned, at least to the extent I expected, but I had fun. And that’s what matters, right?

Still, I’m eyeing next year as a potential blowout year. Many factors and hours separate me from that moment, but I’m going to calculate and deliberate on the attempt. We’ll see how my sentiment changes over the course of the year.

I hope you enjoyed NaNo this year, in spite of whatever craziness is happening in your life. And if you’re still writing, you’ve got this! Go for it! I’m cheering you on, and wish you continued happy writing.

NaNo20: Day 29

We are here, people. We are in the final hours of NaNo. For me, the month proceeded at a normal, clockwork pace, but I do sometimes have moments of “Christmas music already?”

I was indolent today. I had my violin lesson, ran a few errands–I’m pretty sure I’ve dropped about $80 in the last couple of days on gingerbread house materials. Candy is expensive!–and then just… sat. For hours. Reading, mostly–darn you, Webtoons–but basically just being as unproductive as possible. I didn’t start writing until about 10:45pm.

However! I still managed to pound out my 5k minimum for the day, which brings me to 140k total. My ultimate goal of 150k is well within reach. I’m actually kind of glad that I waited to write. I was at a point in the story (my fanfiction passion project) that left me wondering what to do next. The problems of pantsing, alas. So while I closed up the house for the night, I started brainstorming things that could happen. Scenes galore came to me! By the time I actually did settle in to write, they were there, just waiting to be typed out.

Of course, now it’s a shadow after midnight and I not only have work tomorrow, but I might also have to run an errand for my dad in the morning, which will rob me of some time. However, knowing me, I will probably wait until 8 or 9pm anyway to start writing the final 10k, just because I seem to do that on the last day of NaNo every year. Nothing like a dangerously imminent deadline to get those fingers flying!

Everyone, you can do this. I don’t know if you have 1,000 words left to write, 10,000 words left, or if you barely feel like you started. NaNo is a wonderful challenge, but the prize is not just 50,000 words and a certificate. The reward is that you took the time to write, no matter how many or how few words. No matter the project. No matter the reason. You made something. You created. You birthed something wonderful and emotional and raw and utterly, splendidly you into this world, and that doesn’t have to end with November. The triumph was yours the moment you started writing.

Let us write to victory!

NaNo20: Day 28

I wasn’t going to do it today. I told myself I’d stop at 4.5k, which would round me up nicely to 130k. It’s a pretty number, after all. Then I was going to leave it at 7k, which was what I had written before dinner. I still wanted to run a few errands and didn’t exactly feel like writing anymore. But in the final fifty minutes or so of the night, I thought said to myself, “Self, you’ll regret not going for the full 10k.”

Well, Self listened, so I’m sitting pretty at 135.5k, which sets me up nicely for tomorrow to reach at least 140k. All I would need on Monday to hit 150k at that point is 10k, which is totally doable even with a full day of work.

Of course, now it’s midnight and I need to get some sleep! Still, I’m happy with today’s progress (at least as much as I can be since I’m always aiming for a moving target). One final weekend day of NaNo, people! This is not a drill!

Also, just a friendly reminder to back up your work!

NaNo20: Day 27

Well, even though I was kind of hoping for 9k today, I stopped at 4k, which brings me up to about 125.5k for the month.

Mostly because I wasted a lot of time watching YouTube and other stupid things, but I also got a bit distracted with shopping. I don’t typically do Black Friday (there really isn’t much that I want out there), but my nephew yesterday mentioned that he wants to start learning guitar (acoustic). I haven’t really had a good idea of what to get him for Christmas, so I took advantage of today’s sales at Guitar Center. So now he’ll have a guitar (which is actually prettier than mine!).

While I’m still aiming for 150k for the month, I also recognize that I have a lot to do around the house this weekend. We’re decorating for Christmas! Usually I sit a lot of it out because of NaNo, but this year, since I’m not going for a crazy number, I’m comfortable helping out. I didn’t practice violin today (bad me!), but tomorrow I’ll swing by the office when no one is there and get half an hour to an hour in.

We are in the home stretch! The final three days are either smooth sailing or crazy rushing for me… I’m thinking it will be the latter this year. Best of luck on your writing! We’ll finish strong!