- Tasjie, AKA yours truly
I just wanted to say that I DID IT!! I wrote (more than) 50,000 words in 30 days. That's an average of 1,667 words per day, although I never actually made that quota. In fact, in the last three days of the NaNoWriMo challenge, I wrote about 18,000 words just to finish on time. I just wanted to give a little insight on why and how I did the challenge this year.
The why part is simple, I guess. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I figured if I could write a 75,000 word book in six weeks (true story), then I could certainly write 50,000 in four. Plus, I already had a story in my head that I needed to get out. Don't worry, I didn't cheat because I didn't have any of it written down yet. I just had some characters, a general storyline, and some scenes in my head that I knew would be in it. So I figured, no big deal. Just write 1667 words a day, and you're golden.
Wrong. It does not work that way. I mean, when I started, I have a perfect beginning in my head. I got ahead of the game because I just had so much to start with. I was feeling good about it, and started taking little breathers that turned into breaks that turned into days where I couldn't or didn't write anything.
One of the things that helped me push through was my readers. I have had one faithful reader for a long time now (you know who you are, Gina), and have recently added another. And both of them are really helpful because they always end their response emails with "WRITE MORE RIGHT NOW."
A problem I had with my writing is that I start to lag in the middle. My beginnings always start out so great and fresh and I'm just so excited to have my characters. It's like the honeymoon period of writing. But then I'm like... "Where do I go now? How do I get to the beautiful ending I have in mind?" I also try really hard not to write out of order. I don't like doing it, because it can create continuity errors which are sometimes difficult to fix. This time, however, I had to break my own rule.
And that's how I made it to 50,000 words. I was running out of time, and I knew exactly what would happen in the end. So with wild abandon, I wrote the ending. And then I wrote the chapter before it, and the chapter before that. Then I went back and started writing forward again (instead of backwards). And the most amazing, crazy, and wonderful thing happened. I joined it all up! In those last three days, last 18,000 words, I wrote an ending and a middle that joined up. It was great.
And I'll be honest with you. The one other reason I made the goal was because I felt myself getting close, and I thought that if I got really close but didn't make it, I'd be super disappointed. So, neglecting my shower and writing while watching tv with the family, I pushed myself to the end. And now I'm a winner. Yay me!
I just wanted to say that I DID IT!! I wrote (more than) 50,000 words in 30 days. That's an average of 1,667 words per day, although I never actually made that quota. In fact, in the last three days of the NaNoWriMo challenge, I wrote about 18,000 words just to finish on time. I just wanted to give a little insight on why and how I did the challenge this year.
The why part is simple, I guess. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I figured if I could write a 75,000 word book in six weeks (true story), then I could certainly write 50,000 in four. Plus, I already had a story in my head that I needed to get out. Don't worry, I didn't cheat because I didn't have any of it written down yet. I just had some characters, a general storyline, and some scenes in my head that I knew would be in it. So I figured, no big deal. Just write 1667 words a day, and you're golden.
Wrong. It does not work that way. I mean, when I started, I have a perfect beginning in my head. I got ahead of the game because I just had so much to start with. I was feeling good about it, and started taking little breathers that turned into breaks that turned into days where I couldn't or didn't write anything.
One of the things that helped me push through was my readers. I have had one faithful reader for a long time now (you know who you are, Gina), and have recently added another. And both of them are really helpful because they always end their response emails with "WRITE MORE RIGHT NOW."
A problem I had with my writing is that I start to lag in the middle. My beginnings always start out so great and fresh and I'm just so excited to have my characters. It's like the honeymoon period of writing. But then I'm like... "Where do I go now? How do I get to the beautiful ending I have in mind?" I also try really hard not to write out of order. I don't like doing it, because it can create continuity errors which are sometimes difficult to fix. This time, however, I had to break my own rule.
And that's how I made it to 50,000 words. I was running out of time, and I knew exactly what would happen in the end. So with wild abandon, I wrote the ending. And then I wrote the chapter before it, and the chapter before that. Then I went back and started writing forward again (instead of backwards). And the most amazing, crazy, and wonderful thing happened. I joined it all up! In those last three days, last 18,000 words, I wrote an ending and a middle that joined up. It was great.
And I'll be honest with you. The one other reason I made the goal was because I felt myself getting close, and I thought that if I got really close but didn't make it, I'd be super disappointed. So, neglecting my shower and writing while watching tv with the family, I pushed myself to the end. And now I'm a winner. Yay me!
You can look for my book when it comes out to a bookstore near you in the near future.
You can be you.
1 comment:
I'm so proud of you :) But you know that. Keep writing!
WRITE MORE RIGHT NOW <3
Post a Comment