Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Annals of Writing: The NaNoWriMo Jump Start

NaNoWriMo, #amwriting, #novelsnip

Today begins National Novel Writing Month. That's a real thing. You go online and pledge to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

Obviously, I can't write 50,000 words in the month of November. That would be insane. That would be 1667 words per day.

But you know what? I can write 17500 words in the month of November, and that's what I've pledged to do, both here and on the NaNoWriMo website. That's just 500 words per day. Not even two paperback pages! That seems totally do-able.

This week, I moved my project to a book-writing software called Scrivener, which calculates paperback pages for you. Want to know how many I have right now? It's 94. #headedtowardhalfway

At the end of the month, I'll have 152 pages, which is definitely halfway and 50% more than I have right now. That's going to feel amazing. Once I get to that point, it would just be easier to finish the whole book because 152 pages?! Whose ever heard of abandoning a project after you've gotten that far.

Of course, now that I'm thinking about it, I myself have considered dropping out of marathons at mile 22 before. But you know what? I didn't do it. I hauled myself across the finish line in every single one of those marathons. And that's what I'm doing with this book. The book is - mark my words - getting written.

It's not an official challenge or anything, but in November I'm going to write here about writing. Like a little meta thing.  It'll probably be fun, and even if not, I'll be writing words. Practicing.


1 comment:

LH said...

Please share advice on teaching full time and writing a lot.
I am interested in tips from the Master. That would be you.