20k and Second Write-In

I reached 20,000 words right after midnight yesterday! Woo! Then I took the rest of the day off despite the words feeling like they belonged in Tuesday instead, there only being 900 of them, and not writing anything for an entire "waking cycle" that I usually consider a day.

Luckily, I went to a write-in this evening, and I have been motivated once again. I'm now just past 23k and have stopped right before a scene I've been looking forward to writing for quite a while now! Lindsay and Diego are going to do something very stupid, and I can't wait. I know I'm ahead right now, but I'm really hoping to be able to keep up the pace of at least 2k a day so I can potentially finish the book in November, not  just write 50,000 words of a story I will then stop writing and never finish.

10,000 Words

I reached 10k last night! Woo! I'm still at the beginning of my novel, so I feel like my plot is moving slowly compared to some people. I always end up writing epic length novels, though. I've looked at all the other people in my region, and I am pretty sure I'm 7th. This is obviously not good enough. I'm considering trying to have a huge word count today so I can be in at least the top 5. It'll also be easier once the board has an official top 10 and I don't have to open a bunch of tabs every time I want to see where I'm at. The competition is really helping me this year! Hopefully it can shove me through week 2 and into week 3 without me stopping like previous years! I think as long as I don't fall behind on my word count, I'll be okay. Hope everyone else has novels that are going well too!

First Write In

Yesterday I went to my first real write-in. It was pretty okay, I got to know some of my fellow NaNoers better. I also learned something important about myself. I already knew that online word sprints didn't really do anything for me, and that trying to keep up with someone who is above me is only marginally more helpful because I always slack off if I get ahead. BUT! Word sprints in person make me insanely competitive. I did 562 words in the one we did. The next highest number I heard anyone say was 40 words beneath mine. It was like a monster come out of me. Every time I felt anything like distraction, I chastised myself and was so worried I was going to have the lowest score. Hearing people around me clacking their keys was fantastic! I can't wait for the next one on Sunday.

I finished last night with 8k, and I'm hoping to break 10k today. I might see how far along the person who I've chosen as my regional Nemesis is (though I might have to pick again because she's blown me away so far) and try to get closer to her again. All in all, I'm feeling much stronger about this NaNo than last year, even though I LOVED that plot more than this one. This plot actually kinda scares me a bit. No excerpt yet, I've been using my time trying to get a bigger buffer.

Day 1!

Today I started at midnight and wrote exactly 1,667 in the hour after midnight. I didn't even have to stop in the middle of a sentence. I've decided this is a good sign. Since I'd gotten my daily word count and I was surprisingly tired I went to bed in the middle of the prologue. When I got up this morning I finished the prologue, coming in at 3,379 words. That's a little over double the daily word count, and I'm feeling good still. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to start the next scene and push for 5k or if I should leave it for tomorrow and a nice, fresh start. Since I'm ahead, I'm also allowing myself to edit somewhat as long as I don't remove words. This means I'll have a nice somewhat polished excerpt from the first scene for sharing soon!

I also know that I'm going to get less and less ahead as the month continues. That's been my pattern every time I've done NaNo, and I'm already a little worried about it. For now my plan is to actually go to write ins (next one on Thursday!) so I have real life people to do it with and feel all shame-y if I show up too far behind. I'm guessing the hardest part will be Thanksgiving, because I'm going to my boyfriend's family friend's house on Thanksgiving, and my family is having their Thanksgiving party the Saturday after. Two days of eating! My current plan is to write in the morning, but there are a million things that could get in the way of that. In any event, I'm ahead right now. Woo!